Wayward Wit and Warmth
by The Kobold Necromancer
Summary: Somedays, a team race around the world isn't enough drama on its own. Someone finds herself attracted to a guy most different than her. Somehow a guy can be sweet as well as snarky. Something makes a gal wrestle with her morals and dedication after overhearing a shocking secret. Sometimes you laugh, sometimes you cry, sometimes you need a new plushie to get through the ride.
1. Sarcasm

**Chapter 01** \- **Sarcasm**

* * *

 _"Do you know anything about this new host, Don?"_

 _"He appears to have evolved, no scales or other reptilian features. He may very well be human, which is quite the improvement over so many others."_

* * *

 _"You want a napkin, or are you going to wipe your mouth on the camel too?"_

* * *

 _"We're in Paris, city of love, going through a sewer full of skulls. Maybe love is dead, the evidence points to it."_

* * *

 _"You know, if someone had told me three years ago that I'd be riding on a dwindling hunk of cheese down a river in Paris, I would have called them insane. … And I still would, this is solar-powered flashlight levels of wrong."_

* * *

 _"I must have deleted the iSanity app on my phone by accident, because apparently iLost it."_

* * *

 _"It's amazing how shockingly humble Olympians can be, huh? The respectful manner is just praise-worthy. Maybe they should give metals for that."_

* * *

 _"If I'm wrong, feel free to shoot me. With a paintball gun of course, let's not go crazy here, we are Canadian."_

* * *

 _"During the summer, does her dress migrate to warmer climates?"_

* * *

 _"Okay, blink once for yes, blink two for no. I'm trying to set up_ some _kind of communication here, if that's possible."_

* * *

Attraction comes in many forms. For some, seeing someone with a kind heart and a fine mind are the most impressive qualities. Some are attracted to power, money, and/or a stable lifestyle with another person. For a lot of boys (and some girls), big breasts and a pretty face are enough.

For Crimson, it was the amount of snarky comments that came from Noah, including, or quite possibly especially, the ones directed at her and Ennui.

Since Morocco, Crimson had been listening in on Noah's quips on the challenges and other contestants. She realized that she could have been staring at him quite a bit too; however, as the goth gal's normal visage was a blasé stare, she wasn't too likely to be caught.

The commentary from the know-it-all wasn't nonstop, he definitely wasn't _trying_ to be funny. Even with Owen's bemused giggling over some of the remarks, it didn't appear he was speaking to entertain others.

The teams for Ridonculous Race were all now in Iceland, having to navigate a field full of geysers, needing to recite a line in Icelandic to the oddly dressed but rather attractive woman for a tip. Ennui and Crimson had shown up right before the Mom & Daughter team, just to see the mom be sent back across the geyser field by her daughter.

This stirred quite a bit of anger in the goth gal, but luckily, she was good at hiding such emotions.

When Crimson had recited the line perfectly to the Icelandic native, Noah and Owen were right behind her and Ennui. The know-it-all approached next, and recited the line just fine. Crimson heard him use a pronunciation habit of hers, and realized he had double-checked himself listening to her.

When she stared at him, a little impressed by his tactic, he finally noticed her. As she and Ennui were relatively silent, Noah started to have a field day with trying to provoke a reaction. He started with the blinking remark, then carried on.

"Okay, someone call the show's paramedics," he called out, "I think the goths died standing up!"

"But they're blinking," Owen pointed out, his eyes widening in growing panic.

"Yes, and their hair and nails are probably still growing too," the know-it-all remarked.

Crimson winced. She had to, or something that never happened was going to. Noah noticed this right away, and smirked. "There's your movement for you, Owen. Thanks for the wince, everybody's a critic."

She held herself back more, her eyes squinting and her mouth biting down on the inside of her mouth. On the outside, it appeared like she was wincing a great deal. This was probably best, because Noah stopped his remarks. He motioned to Owen, who followed after him towards the helicopter; the big guy cast one more concerned look towards the goths, possibly still worried they had passed away on their feet.

"You okay?" Ennui asked Crimson.

Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself down inside. She was holding her hand on her chest, right over her bat tattoo. Her normal visage returned, and she glanced up at Ennui. "I'm fine. Let's go."

The two walked to the helicopter as well, and seated themselves next to the Reality TV Pros. The snarky repertoire was gone, as Owen was close to having a panic attack being in the helicopter.

"How much longer we gotta stay in here?" he hollered, eyes darting towards the open hatch.

Noah did a quick headcount of the teams before and after them: the Ice Dancers, the Vegans, the Fashion Bloggers, and then the Goths. "We only need to wait for one more team. Just get out Barry and calm yourself down."

Owen did just that, squeezing the teddy bear. The whimpering continued until Noah, rolling his eyes as he realized additional comfort was needed, rubbed the big guy's upper arm. "There there," he said. "It cannot be too long."

"How hard is it to say one sentence in another language?" Owen wailed.

"Um, excuse me," Tom spoke, holding up his hands to shield him from Owen. "If you're going to scream, could you not face me? You're getting saliva on my designer top."

"Oh, sorry," Owen apologized. He promptly turned around, facing Noah, and shrieked out the rest of his panic.

"Thank you," Tom said with an appreciative smile. "Most kind of you."

"WHAT?" Noah asked, eyes wide and hair windswept back, the hurricane known as Owen's flight panic having done a number on him.

The next team to finally enter the helicopter was the Sisters. Emma appeared annoyed by Kitty, who was taking more selfies than normal by now. As the helicopter finally took off, the teams were all pretty quiet.

When it landed ten minutes later, Owen nearly beat the Ice Dancers out of it with his desperation to get off the plane. As the teams reached the Don Box and received their next tip, Noah watched Owen kiss the ground most gratefully.

"Careful, big guy," the know-it-all called out, "this is Iceland, your lips may get frozen to the ground that way."

"Good, then I'll never leave it again."

Noah rolled his eyes, and read the tip. "Either/Or. We have to either eat an Icelandic Feast, or mine for fossils. I don't know, big guy, you feel like eating something? Or you not up for that-"

A white blur with a Canadian maple leaf centered on it yanked Noah off the ground, heading towards a rather long table full of trays. Owen giggled in excitement, and declared, "Flying always makes me hungry!"

"Everything makes you hungry," Noah grumbled, squirming to remove himself from Owen's grasp. "Even eating makes you hungry!"

"Eating food reminds me of other foods I'd like to eat!"

Don walked up to the table, and lifted the warmer lid on the tray. The copious amount of meat, including a sheep head with green eyeballs, made Noah's stomach dip hard.

"Is it too late to go for fossils?" he remarked.

"Momma always said," Owen whimpered, "never eat anything with a face on it."

"I am in full agreement with your mother."

Before they could turn around and walk away, Crimson and Ennui approached. The goths were undaunted by the sight of the unusual feast, Ennui even licked his lips; slowly, of course, reminding Noah a little of a snake.

"You're gonna eat that?" Owen asked them incredulously.

The two stared at him for a moment, then approached the table towards the second dish there. Noah glanced up at Owen, saying, "And here we are, studying the life habits of the goth. Their diet appears to consist of great quantities of Vitamin WTF."

Crimson slapped a hand over her mouth, turning away from everyone else. To the guys, it appeared she was temporarily disgusted by the feast before them. Owen was rather unnerved that both he and apparently the goth girl were disgusted to eat this food. "We gonna do this?" he asked his best friend.

"We've done worse. Besides, everyone and their mother is going to be mining for fossils."

Sure enough, Kelly and Taylor showed up just then. They took one look at the feast, at Ennui swallowing some of it. Both promptly threw up, and headed over towards the mines.

"See?" Noah remarked, finally removing himself from Owen's grasp and heading over to their plate. Picking up a piece of the sausage, he glanced over at Crimson, and asked, "There an Icelandic version of 'bon appetite'?"

"No," Crimson replied in her typical, monotone voice.

"Well, alright then," Noah countered, before popping the sausage into his mouth. Chewing slowly, he mumbled, "Mmm, not too bad."

"Oh goody!"

Owen was over there in a heartbeat, taking a great deal of the feast. For the most part, he had no problems with the food, and neither did Noah. The know-it-all was meticulous with eating, and the big guy wanted to savor food while he could.

This left Crimson time to watch Noah as he ate. She continued to eat, at a slightly faster pace than the pros. Though she couldn't get any answers from this bit of surveying, part of her just wanted to keep at it.

" _I wonder how he does it,_ " she thought to herself. " _He always seems to have a clever remark to whatever is going on. Does he practice that? Does it just come naturally?_

" _Maybe he just had a lot of practice, or time alone to think of such things,_ " she tried to mentally reason as she helped herself to some of the sheep's head. " _There's something tragic about it, which is just so… artistic. I wonder if he is aware of that. I wonder if…_ "

"Crimson," Ennui spoke, bringing her out of her train of thought. They had all but finished their feast, with nothing left but the green eyeballs.

At this point, several of the teams were trying their stomachs to the feast: the Daters, the Rockers, the Surfer Dudes, and the return of Mother & Daughter. All of them (well, all the ones sentient, Brody was still out of it) suddenly found their attention stuck on the Goths. It wasn't every day you'd see someone eat eyeballs, certainly not with gusto.

Though neither Ennui or Crimson would do something "with gusto," they certainly had no problem tossing an eyeball each into their mouths, chewing slowly, and then swallowing. Noah, Owen, and Rock in particular stared with a combination of disgust and fascination.

"Okay, I'm going to learn how to eat through a tube from here on," Noah remarked.

Crimson covered her mouth again, biting down on her lip. Everyone mistook this for disgust, and thus the difficulty of getting back to the feast was amped up.

Luckily, even with that particular sight still fresh in his mind, Owen managed to chow down on the rest of the Icelandic feast without much hesitation. Noah plucked up one of the eyeballs, the last things to consume, and gave Owen instructions on how to handle it; this felt odd to Noah, giving his best friend tips on how to eat.

The singular eyeball felt kind of gooey and crisp at the same time, and Noah's stomach churned the entire time. He swallowed a little too soon, risking some of it being stuck in his throat, but he mentally willed his body to force it down. Owen was turning a little bit green too, but, as usual with the big guy, his mood turned joyful quickly.

"Let's hurry, I don't think anyone else but the Goths are at the Chill Zone," he declared, dashing off as soon as the words were out. Noah clutched the platter with one hand, his stomach with the other, and hurried after his friend.

It wasn't too hard to find the Chill Zone, as if the yellow carpet in the middle of the road wasn't a big enough eyesore. This was due to a rather large amount of yelling at their destination.

"THIRD PLACE?" came the highly accented voice of Josee. She had grabbed Jacques by his fur jacket, and was shaking him hard enough to transform him into a blur. "We got BRONZE! How did you fail us so, Jacques?"

If Jacques replied, he was being shaken too hard to be understood. Nearby, Crimson and Ennui watched with bored stares, and Tom and Jen were rather horrified by the aggression.

Don tried to ignore all this, as he approached Noah and Owen. "Fourth place," he announced. The two tried to smile in enjoyment, but the screaming and the taste of sheep eyeball still on their mouths made it hard to do so.

As Josee continued to tantrum it out on her partner, Noah tried to find a place to put the empty platter. She noticed Ennui had simply dropped theirs near the yellow carpet, so he dropped his on top, like a stack of dishes.

"Such senseless aggression," the know-it-all overheard Ennui remark.

Josee eventually let go of Jacques and stormed off, leaving the male skater lying on the carpet, staring up at the sky in shock and dizziness. "I was dis'appoint too," he murmured.

"Need a hand up?" Noah offered. "Or you just going to lie there and wait for death to take you? Please don't die on the carpet, I'm pretty sure they just had it washed."

A strained grunt could be heard nearby, but Noah wasn't sure who let it out. Jacques glared up at the know-it-all, and shot back, "You laugh now, little man, but we still beat you! De so-called pros lost to us yet again!"

"That's true and all, but at least my partner didn't try to shake me as if prepping a glow stick. Then again, your outfit is so bright, that might have been the original purpose."

That muffled grunt was heard again, but no one except the person doing it was aware of who it was. As Jacques stared angrily up at Noah, the scrapping sound of ice on road could be heard.

Emma was shoving a large, rectangular block of ice with a fossil trapped inside. As Don greeted them, Kitty watched her sister slump in exhaustion on the carpet, and took another selfie. "Thanks for all the help," Emma snarled, panting for air.

"You said not to~," Kitty replied, grinning mischievously.

"When did I ever say," the older sister began to say, then she remembered. Much to her chagrin, she _had_ indeed told Kitty not to help her. "Damn it, when did you remember anything I say?"

Noah glanced over at the young woman collapsed behind the large block of ice, then back at Jacques, then over at Don. "Is this also the rest stop for tonight?" he asked the host. "There's a concerning amount of people crashing here for the end of the race."

This time, after one of Noah's remarks, the person making stifled grunts could be identified. Crimson was wincing, crossing her arms over her stomach, biting her lip. Ennui raised an eyebrow at his teammate, confused by this.

"Is she okay?" Owen asked.

"Sheep's head probably backing up on her," Noah remarked.

"Oh, is it going to _ram_ back up her throat?" Owen joked, grinning anxiously for a reaction from his best friend.

Almost everyone groaned loudly, while Noah frowned at his best friend. "Thank you. I was having a hard time controlling my stomach, but you just had to toss that out. If I puke, it's on your shoes."

Crimson let out a tiny squeak noise, much to Noah's confusion. He walked over to the goth gal, and quirked one of his eyebrows. "Hey, are you about ready to show an emotion?" he asked. "Owen, your pun has physically affected someone! I hope you are ready to apologize."

Now the goth gal was hunched over, hands grasping the top of her head, her fountain of black and white hair shielding her face from view. Owen stared in confusion, then called out to his friend. "Um, Noah, I think you're making her mad!"

The know-it-all stared at the hunched over goth gal, and said, "Is that what this is? Well, might be worth it, just to see Crimson go crimson."

And that's when it happened…

…

…

…

…

…

"BUAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAH! AHH HA HA HAHAAAAAA!"

Crimson went from hunched over to throwing her head back in the midst of her powerful laughter. She wrapped her arms around her stomach to support herself, as she continued. "Ahahahaa! HA HA HA! Heeeee… heeeee… go crimson, AHAHAHAAAAA!"

The goth gal was shaking with how hard she was laughing, the wide smile threatening to overtake the bottom half of her face, tears leaking from her eyes and staining her copious eyeshadow. When it seemed like she was slowing down, she murmured one of Noah's remarks from that day, and went right back to cackling.

Noah was rather speechless, staring at her with no idea what to do or say. Tom hid behind Jen, Emma and Jacques stared from the ground in shock and amazement, Owen was totally baffled, and Kitty was quick to take a picture of this rare sight.

Ennui was staring at his teammate with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. The flabbergasted stare was rather odd on his face, but everyone was too distracted by Crimson's sudden, near-hysterical mirth.

The goth gal continued until she broke down into wheezes and coughs. Hacking a little bit, she took several breaths to calm herself down. When she managed to look up, Noah was staring at her. He cocked an eyebrow, saying without words, " _You finished?_ "

That was when she grabbed him by his sweater vest, holding him tightly as she leaned in. He could feel her breath on his face as words from a low voice said, "Oh… my… God… you are the funniest person I have ever met. Every cynical remark you make, that wicked sense of humor, it is like you are speaking to the twisted side of my soul with every passage!"

Now Noah was really confused on what to do. He opened his mouth to try to speak, but never got the chance. Crimson leaned forward suddenly, and her dark-painted lips met his.

A collection of widened eyes and dropped jaws ensued with everyone at the Chill Zone. Ennui's jaw fell so far down, it threatened to disconnect. The only noise was a click of a phone's camera, done by Kitty solely by instinct.

The kiss lasted a good six seconds. When she pulled back, Crimson had left a slight stain of dark lipstick on Noah's lips, and a wide-eyed look of surprise on the know-it-all's face. For a few seconds, all he could see was the goth gal smiling at him.

Then she let out one last chuckle over his humor, took a deep breath, and her normal, nonchalant visage was back. "Thank you," she said with her casual voice, and spun on her heel, her flow of white 'n black locks coming close to brushing Noah's chest.

She walked over to Ennui, who was still gawking with wide, yellow eyes and a gaping mouth. Glancing up at him, she blinked slowly. He reverted back to his normal mode too, but his frown was a little wider than normal, his thick eyebrows pressed down just a tad bit more.

Noah stood there in total, thunderstruck silence. It was Don who finally broke the silence, by saying, "Well now, just when I thought I saw it all! Also, Best Friends! Sixth place!"

"Yay," Carrie cheered, pumping her fist. Then she studied all the people standing or sitting in silence, all eyes on Noah or Crimson, who appeared to transfixed in shock. "Did something happen?"

Kitty managed to blurt it out before anyone else could say something. "Crimson snogged Noah!"

There are many ways one could react to such news. Carrie chose the girliest manner. "EEEEE~! And I missed that? That's so cute!"

* * *

 **(Ridonculous Confessional - FINALLY!)**

( _The Best Friends_ )

 **Devin** \- "She's a major dork when it comes to romance."

 **Carrie** \- * _giggles_ * "I cannot help it. The idea of people coming together despite difference personalities, enjoying said differences, finding things in common… it's magical, you know?"

 **Devin** \- "She even thought of all these silly names for possible couples when we watched Total Drama."

 **Carrie** \- "Yeah, there was Dawneron, LeDunca, Bridgold, Ezzy, Gwyler, Jasammy, and… and…"

* _She begins staring at Devin, and her eyes go starry as a smile spreads across her face. He notices this, and chuckles._ *

 **Devin** \- "There she goes, daydreaming about possible couples. She gets like this at times, though I have no idea who she's thinking of pairing up in that head of hers."

 **Carrie** \- * _beaming at Devin fondly until he finishes speaking_ * "Hmmm? Oh, um, yeah, random pairings! Ehehe… totally random."

* * *

( _The Sisters_ )

 **Kitty** \- * _showing her phone's screen to her sister_ * "I even managed to get the moment where he briefly closed his eyes! Heeheehee!"

 **Emma** \- * _grumbling_ * "Why are you showing me that?"

 **Kitty** \- "'Cuz I can~!"

* * *

( _Reality TV Pros_ )

* _Owen is staring at Noah, who has his arms crossed and staring off to the side._ *

 **Owen** \- * _slyly_ * "So…"

 **Noah** \- "No."

 **Owen** \- "But I-"

 **Noah** \- "No."

 **Owen** \- "You just-"

 **Noah** \- "NO."

 **Owen** \- "Ijustwannaaskmybestfriendifitwasagoodfirstkiss!"

 **Noah** \- * _turns towards Owen_ * "'First'?! What the heck makes you think it was my first?"

 **Owen** \- "Was it?"

 **Noah** \- "No, it wasn't!"

 **Owen** \- "But was it the best?"

 **Noah** \- * _frowns even more_ * "Does the concept of 'not want to talk about it' enter into your head? Does the mere suggestion of wishing to not discuss something ever dawn on you?"

 **Owen** \- * _cheerfully_ * "Nope!"

 **Noah** \- "…" * _He goes back to glancing to the side._ * "… It wasn't bad."

 **Owen** \- "Wasn't bad? That was several seconds of a cute girl sucking face with you, little buddy! It had to be better than 'wasn't bad'!"

 **Noah** \- "I am not giving you details!"

 **Owen** \- * _wailing_ * "But I want them!"

* * *

( _The Goths._ )

 **Crimson** \- * _She glances at him with a slightly questioning gaze as if to ask without words, "Want to ask me about it?"*_

 **Ennui** \- * _shakes his head_ *

 **Crimson** \- * _shrugs her shoulders_ *

* * *

The rest of the challenge was about as eventful, but possibly the exact opposite emotionally. Dwayne Senior had accidentally taken the fossil that the Vegans had collected, and received the credit for it; most people had never seen a hippie angry before, certainly not on the level Laurie was.

"Why does she sound so familiar?" Geoff asked himself as he watched Laurie and Miles head towards the feast.

All the other teams eventually made it to the Chill Zone, resulting in a close finish between the Rockers, Vegans, and Mother & Daughter. When the Vegans came in last, and were informed that it was a non-elimination round, Laurie flipped again.

Most of the other teams, who were allowed a two-hour break before the next round, heard that Don had received a rather brutal beating from the very agitated, no-longer-truly vegan. When Noah had heard, he sighed heavily.

"When you hear about things like this, you have to ask yourself," he lamented, "why, why, _why_ no one thought to do that to Chris Maclean on Total Drama?"

"You really still don't like him?" Owen asked him.

"Didn't the last time you saw him, he put a bomb on your face?"

"It was a small bomb, I got better."

"You're far too nice for your own good."

The two of them spent most of the time doing some warm-up exercises. Owen was still none too fit, but he had managed to get his large body strong enough to handle running place to place without collapsing every five minutes. After being friends and teammates for so many shows, Noah had managed to keep Owen at a reasonable level of stamina due to having him work out daily.

Also, they took the time to visit a nearby restaurant. As a propellent, Noah had promised Owen that if they ever had time, he'd order the big guy something special to the country they were in. The know-it-all was highly determined to win this contest, and was willing to take a small hit to his wallet to motivate his friend.

Even after eating roasted sheep eyeballs, Owen could have the stomach to treat himself to a different Icelandic meal. Noah barely had anything, and was glad that his friend was so immersed in his meal, he wasn't asking more questions about Crimson's sudden kiss.

Since they didn't mingle with the other teams during the break, Noah almost believed that the incident would go without mention.

All the teams arrived at the Chill Zone, stoked and ready to begin the next league of the race. Of course, Ennui and Crimson appeared as bored and unimpressed as ever, but Noah did catch her staring at him a couple times.

By the time they were called forth to the Chill Zone for their turn to start, Noah was getting rather annoyed by how many of the other teams were glancing at him, then whispering amongst themselves.

"You'd think they'd have something better to do than gossip," Noah grumbled to his friend.

"Maybe they all think you and I have some kind of alliance with the Goths?" Owen suggested.

"Oh goody, more gossip about my so-called love life. Least it's not about myself and another guy again. Let's just focus, see what the challenge is going to be in Brazil."

Noah was already braced for people to make cracks about what had happened, but he still was rather surprised when he saw Don smirk at him. "Alright, Reality TV Pros, it's your turn to get going. You might want to hurry, Noah, if you want to catch up with the Goths!"

The know-it-all pursed his lips, and retaliated by pointing at Don's black eye, "Nice shiner. I had no idea someone could lose a fight with a hippie."

Owen winced, expecting the host to lose it. Don, however, merely laughed and pointed at Noah. "Good one, got me there. Now go on, get out of here before my good nature leaves me."

Noah took this to heart, hurrying to the main road with Owen close behind. They flagged down a taxi, reached the airport, and made a beeline towards the runway. The military plane was marked for the participants of The Ridonculous Race, so it was rather easy to spot; what wasn't easy was getting Owen on the plane.

With flashbacks to the barely functioning plane that Chris had used to save money to spend on himself, Owen was as close to a nervous wreck as one could be without flipping out. Noah felt like a cat owner trying to get their feline into a pet carrier for the vet, shoving his friend into the plane.

"No no no," Owen was chanting. "Flying death trap! Not good! Not happy!"

"This one is fully intact and functioning, because Chris Maclean isn't behind this contest," Noah tried to assure him, pushing on his friend's back to inch him into the plane. "You have your bear, just take comfort in him."

"Don't wanna, don't wanna, don't wanna!"

Noah struggled every inch of the way, finally managing to shove his large friend into a corner of the seats. All of the other teams were watching him, probably concerned that Owen might start panicking aboard the plane.

"Now just sit there, take out your teddy bear, and keep quiet before you get us kicked off the flight," Noah ordered him. "I'm not in the mood to ride with cows."

Owen started chewing on Barry's ear, a squeaking noise echoing through the plane quite annoyingly. Noah was starting to strap himself in, when he heard a most unusual sound. It was like someone trying to swallow a toy horn.

He turned to see Barry's leg disappear down Owen's mouth, his friend's fear sending his usual desire to eat into a bizarre comfort zone. Before Noah could comment, Owen let out a rather loud burp, and splashed the know-it-all's face with saliva-soaked teddy fluff.

"Where's Barry?" Owen asked.

Noah had to hold in his contempt as he spat a large piece of spit-coated stuffing off his mouth. He could feel more of it dripping down his face as he replied as calmly as possible, "You just ate him."

His large friend screamed in panic, then glanced at his best buddy in desperation. "Will you hold me?"

"I'd rather," Noah started to say, then a pair of very large and fear-strengthened arms wrapped around his chest. The know-it-all unintentionally finished his sentence several octaves higher than he normally would elicit. " _Not!_ "

Noah couldn't escape from his friend's grasp, and it was seriously starting to suffocate him. When the hanger door closed for the plane, Owen squeezed his friend even more tightly. "No no no, now we're trapped in here! I don't wanna fly, I don't wanna sing either! Tell my mom I loved her!"

"Would you get 'im to calm down?" Josee snapped at Noah, glaring at the two of them. "'E is seriously unnerving me!"

As much as Noah wanted to respond in a sarcastic manner, he was finding it very hard to even breathe with how much pressure was on his chest. When the engines of the plane roared to life as they started down the runway, Owen wailed again. "No, now we're getting ready to go! Tell my father I loved him too!"

"Noah," Jacques spoke up now, drumming his fingers on his crossed arms, "any possibility you know dee sleeper 'old?"

Before Noah could try to grunt out a response, the plane jolted with a start. A very loud bursting sound like a tire blowing out could be heard right under their seats. When the whole plane shook rather sharply, Owen screamed, "WE'RE GOING DOWN! TELL THE REST OF MY FAMILY I LOVED THEM TOO, EVEN MY COUSIN JOE!"

Pain shot through Noah's body as the terrified hug of his friend squeezed with fear-induced force. He swore he heard something crack, and was starting to lose consciousness. " _This must be how prey of an anaconda feels,_ " he thought miserably.

" _Sorry folks_ ," the captain spoke on the intercom, " _it appears we ran over something on the runway, some rocky shards that someone carelessly left behind. It's gonna take us two hours to fix this baby._ "

"Two 'ours?!" Jacques and Josee exclaimed in perfect, outraged sync.

"Who left rock shards on dee runway?" Jacques declared. "It must 'ave been someone on dee other team, they sabotaged us!"

"I'm going to 'ave words with dee cap'i'tan!" Josee spoke as she stood up, and stormed towards the cabin. Jacques followed her, and of course, both smiled and posed as they walked away, for the sake of the camera.

Noah finally felt Owen let go of him, and he took deep breaths of sweet, fresh air. He leaned against the wall as he recovered, his chest still aching. Quite a few strong remarks went through his head on what to say to his flight-fearing friend, but when he turned to speak, he quickly realized Owen had fainted out of fright.

Groaning in frustration that fate hadn't even let him chew out Owen, Noah tried to relax for the bit of quiet he had. He tried not to rub his chest, it felt particularly sensitive.

About two minutes of semi-pained silence, Noah felt the presence of someone sitting next to his side where the Ice Dancers had been. He assumed it was them at first, but when he turned, he came face-to-face with an unnaturally pale expression.

Crimson was staring at him, her dark eyes focused on his with the occasional, slow blink. She crossed her legs, her fishnet leggings and skirt not suited for the rather limited space on the bench-like seat.

She examined him, as if scanning him with those dark pupils of hers. The lack of words was starting to become unnerving to Noah, but before he could question her, she spoke first.

"Are you okay?"

The inquiry puzzled Noah at first, until he realized he was still gently rubbing his sore chest. Breathing was a tad pained as well, and he wondered how much this was showing up on his face. "I'm fine," he replied, with a roll of his eyes.

Crimson's flat gaze, despite no emotion or change, disagreed with Noah's assertion. She reached forward, and placed her hand on his chest. This unusual feel-up continued as her gloved fingers traced his ribcage.

She gently poked one of his ribs, and Noah couldn't hide a pained hiss as a sharp pain shot through his body.

"You may have a cracked rib," Crimson said.

"What? No way, Owen's not that strong," the know-it-all remarked. He glanced over at his fainted friend, and added, "It's just a little sore, you can take your hand off me now-"

Another gentle poke to the rib made him wince in pain again. When he glared at her, her unreadable expression just made the whole situation all the more confusing to him.

"We need to get you some medical treatment," Crimson spoke, her monotone voice making it sound much more like an order than a suggestion.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Noah remarked. "But hey, if you're having fun making me suffer, you could always just stomp on my toes, poke me in the eyes, whatever."

Crimson merely blinked at this, and grabbed his arm. Hoisting him up on his feet, she started dragging him towards the hanger, which had opened when the plane had come to a stop. "Argh! Does no one take NO for an answer?" Noah cried out. "Do I also need a permission slip to use the restroom during class, teacher? I didn't know… argh…"

Noah's chain of sass was cut short when he realized just how badly his chest was hurting. He wrapped his free arm around himself, mentally and quite grudgingly realizing Crimson was right. Owen had done some damage in his bear hug of hysteria.

The other teams all stared at the sight of Crimson leading an obviously pained Noah out of the plane. When they passed by Ennui, the goth guy was glaring right at Noah. Or at least, the know-it-all thought it was glaring, it was hard to tell.

Shortly after leaving the plane, Noah caught sight of Emma returning to the plane, none too happy. When the older sister noticed the unusual sight before her, she merely raised an eyebrow. "Okay, what happened?" she asked in a tone that implied she didn't really care all that much.

"He has a cracked rib," Crimson stated nonchalantly. "Taking him to the medical station, since he refuses to admit he's hurt."

"How did you crack a rib?" Emma stared at Noah, adding without words, " _How clumsy are you_?" Before either goth or cynic could respond, her eyes widened. "Wait, did Owen do that with that bear hug he was giving you? Your partner cracked your rib when he was screaming like a dying man?"

"Ding ding ding," Noah exclaimed, waving his free hand in the air. "The woman gets a prize!"

Crimson covered her mouth with her free hand, stifling some kind of noise that was rather strained. Noah glanced at her, and thought back to what happened at the Chill Zone earlier. " _Wait, is she… trying not to laugh? Is that what she's been doing every time she grunts like that?_ "

"Well, if we're grilling everyone out here for explanations," the know-it-all spoke, turning back to Emma, "what are you doing out here?"

"I was trying to see if my sister and I could switch planes. Some of us actually joined this competition to win," Emma responded, crossing her arms.

" _Wow, she sure is snarky,_ " Noah thought. " _Just like someone I know…_ "

"However, as Don informed me just now, we're not allowed to leave the plane we boarded, because apparently," the older sister frowned angrily as she continued, "one of the teams aboard our plane is the reason for the flat tire and delay. We're stuck here while the other teams on the other plane get to go first."

She flicked her hair behind her shoulder as she scoffed in annoyance. It was quite the unintentionally attractive motion, and for a brief moment, Noah didn't know what to say or do. Emma was so much more graceful than he had originally noticed…

"So, we're stuck here until they fix the tire," Emma said. "It might be best to discuss strategy during this time with my teammate."

As if on queue, the click of a phone's camera and a flash could be heard inside the plane. Kitty was posing with Geoff, Brody, Jen, and Tom, all of them gleefully grinning for the picture.

"Maybe not," the older sister said, turning away from the plane as Jen requested Kitty to take one of her best side. "I guess I should just go with you, make sure she doesn't sacrifice you to the Elder Gods or something."

"I'm not a Cthulhuist," Crimson stated.

"Goths come in sects now? Interesting," Emma responded, now walking alongside Noah and Crimson as the latter helped the former along. "And by the way, the medical station is this way. Just follow me. Some of us take careful note of where we're going, even if it's temporarily."

" _Such a blunt know-it-all_ ," Noah thought to himself as he glanced at Emma some more. " _Wow, how have I not noticed her until now?_ "

"And anyway," the older sister carried on, "don't you have a boyfriend, Crimson? How's he feel about you being all over Noah?"

"Ennui's not my boyfriend," Crimson said. "He's my soulless mate."

There was a brief silence with the other two, and Noah spoke first. "I'm going to guess that a soulless mate is just your gothic manner of saying 'soulmate,' right?"

"It's different. Soulless mates realize the darkness in themselves and the world around them, and strive to work together both with and against it."

Emma rolled her eyes, while Noah desisted such an action. True, what Crimson was saying sounded awfully bizarre, but there were three reasons he hadn't accounted for that seized his sarcastic satire.

The first was that Crimson's voice, with that low and almost sensual purr to it, made anything she said sound poetic. She did sound bored for most of what she said, but she spoke emphatically at the same time. Noah never knew anyone who could do that.

The second reason was that she was still supporting him as his chest burned with dull pain. He really didn't want to upset the person helping him balance that out.

The third… he couldn't place his finger on. He had no idea why, he just didn't feel like digging his verbal claws into her like he would most anyone else.

"Well, who am I to judge?" Noah said with a dry chuckle. "My lifestyle right now is reality TV, which comes as close to realistic as a Saturday morning cartoon."

Emma scoffed, crossing her arms. "Yeah, and I'm sure if she and her soulless mate win the million dollars, they'll start donating to graveyards everywhere."

"That could work out," he remarked. "Dead people spend their money relatively better than most living people."

There was a familiar grunting noise, followed by a high-pitched squeak from a failed restraint of laughter. Crimson turned her face away, hand over her mouth, desperately hiding the fact that color had spread across her alabaster face.

* * *

 **(Ridonculous Confessional - Where have you BEEN?!)**

( _On the plane carrying the formally first-place contestants._ )

 **Kitty** \- * _adjusting her phone_ * "I wonder what's taking my sister so long?"

 **Tom** \- "Her loss, she could have looked fabulous on the blog! Thanks again for the assistance, Kitty! I am loving what you've done so far, you could totally be a photographer!"

 **Jen** \- "Oh, totally! You could do so much work for fashion with better equipment than a phone! How many pictures do you take a day with that, anyway?"

 **Kitty** \- "I dunno, I don't think I can count that high on a daily basis."

 **Tom** \- "Wowsers. And how many do you put up?"

 **Kitty** \- "Normally, like, two. But since I started this show, I have uploaded SO many more on my photo booth! So many likes and favorites too! Especially that one I got of Crimson and Noah snogging!"

 **Jen** \- "Oh, you're being so wonderful sly, I love it! It's bold!"

 **Kitty** \- "Haha, thanks! But I think I made some people really mad, I keep getting angry comments from this group called NoCo. I, like, have _no_ idea what that means."

 **Jen** \- "NoCo? Sounds like a type of clothing brand I wouldn't try wearing."

 **Tom** \- "I don't know about that, it sounds relatively okay to me."

* * *

 **Devin** \- "Go on, say it."

 **Carrie** \- * _blushing and glancing to the side_ * "I have no idea what you're talking about…"

 **Devin** \- "You watched Crimson help Noah out of the plane, and I can see that look in your eyes. I wanna hear what you're gonna call them."

 **Carrie** \- "It's a little different when you're in the contest, Devin! I mean, these people could become our friends or enemies at any point in time."

 **Devin** \- "Yeah, that does kind of suck. Well, the latter part. But at least some of the contestants make it easy for us to not feel bad if they get eliminated."

 **Carrie** \- "The Ice Dancers?"

 **Devin** \- "The Ice Dancers."

* * *

 **Owen** \- "Zzzzzzzz… nnrgghfffl… zzzzzz…"

* * *

It didn't take long for Noah to receive a quick medical treatment at the airport medical station. A gauze wrap around his chest, a couple painkillers, and oddly enough, a mixture of red and green herbs were all that he was given, but it all worked relatively well.

Upon leaving the medical station, Noah spotted the gift store close by. He quickly darted in, and scanned the shelves of plushies.

"What are you doing?" Emma asked, slightly impatient over the whole ordeal.

"Looking for something for Owen. I'm not about to have another repeat of what just happened."

Crimson stared at the rows of adorable stuffed animals. She was about to scoff in disgust when she noticed a bat plushie. Part of her wanted to buy that, but she'd have no place to keep it. "Are you getting him another bear?" she asked, keeping herself neutral.

"No, he'd just eat that too," Noah remarked. "I need to find something not exactly delicious looking to him."

"Bears look delicious to Owen?" Emma said incredulously.

"Apparently, since most of Barry is now in Owen's belly. What animal doesn't look delicious to you two?"

"Bats," Crimson said without hesitation.

"Hmm, good idea," the know-it-all replied, picking up the bat plushie. "On the safe side, better get him a couple others; I'd hate to find out what else he'll add to his unwritten list of omnivore treats."

After purchasing the bat, as well as a bumblebee and a bazooka plushie (which Noah had no idea why anyone would want, but it felt like a relatively safe choice for something that didn't look tasty), the three headed back to the plane.

Everyone else was seated again, talking between partners, discussing either strategy or their normal repertoire. The three only received a casual glance from most, but Crimson signaled to Ennui that she'd be right back; he frowned and glanced to the side, crossing his arms.

As Noah sat back down next to Owen, his large friend awoke with a start. "Oh! Did we take off?"

"No, still on the ground, big guy. But here," Noah lifted the bag with the plushie animals and firearm, "comfort to replace Barry."

When the know-it-all lifted his arm, he noticeably winced. Owen saw down Noah's sleeve the gauze wrap around his chest, and exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, did something happen to you, Noah?"

"Oh, the chest wrap? Yeah, the darndest thing happened," Noah chuckled, confusing both of the young ladies watching. "When I was walking to the gift shop to get you these, I tripped and fell, hit the ground just hard enough to crack a rib."

"OH NO! Are you going to be okay?"

"They said I had three months to live at the emergency room, so I guess," Noah dropped the sarcasm when his friend's eyes started widening in fear, quickly saying, "yes, I'll be fine, Owen. Just no hugs, alright?"

Owen nodded, staring at his best friend sympathetically. He then moved forward to take the plushie creatures, and also to pat Noah on the head. Frowning at this rather embarrassing treatment, the know-it-all muttered for Owen to stop. It was then that he realized Emma and Crimson were still watching him.

"Um," Emma said aloud when Noah glanced over at them, "I'm gonna go now. Gotta make sure Kitty doesn't kill the batteries in her phone, or I'll never hear the end of it."

Emma walked off, but Crimson continued to stare at Noah. She tilted her head to the side, a hint of confusion in her eyes as she studied the know-it-all.

"What, do I have to give you a tip or something?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow at her. When no reply was given, he let out a sigh. "Alright fine. Thank you for making me get help over my rib. It'll come in handy if I'm asked to create Eve later."

Crimson's shoulders shook, then she covered her mouth and turned away; however, this time, it was too much. She was giggling, quite loudly in fact, shaking as she tried to control it.

"Were you just waiting around for me to say something sarcastic?" Noah asked, unsure exactly how to handle this except in his normal manner. "I suppose you should get a small music box to crank, I could perform for you with quicker reception."

The goth gal almost doubled over, waving her other hand at Noah in a desperate plea to get him to stop. When she managed to pull herself back together, she couldn't hide the smile on her face as she gazed at him.

In that moment, Noah didn't see the eyes of a creepy goth with red and black eyeshadow. He saw a young lady looking at him, and though he wasn't sure exactly what kind of emotion it was, it was most certainly positive.

Noah felt himself smile right back at her, and her eyes lit up for a brief second. Then she realized Owen was watching them, and she immediately reverted back to her normal self. With her bored visage restored, she walked back to her partner.

"What was that all about?" Owen asked Noah, desperate for answers. "Part of me thought she was going to kiss you again!"

"Oh please, I'm pretty sure right now, I'm some kind of taboo for her," Noah remarked, leaning back against the wall of the plane. "She's probably not supposed to smile and laugh, and yet, she does it over me."

"She likes you," his friend reasoned, giving Noah a sly grin. "Oh, Noah, you got her all into you!"

"What did I just say? I'm not something she wants, I'm like a kind of forbidden fruit. Plus, maybe she's just around that pillar of silent alabaster for so long, any smart-aleck remark makes her laugh."

Owen raised one his eyebrows, and stroked his large chin. "So you could say that you are just…"

"No."

"Come on, please?"

The two young men stared at each other for a short while, before Noah groaned loudly and muttered, "Okay, do it. Just remember, I'm in pain here already."

"That's okay, I won't be," Owen mimed putting on sunglasses, " _ribbing_ you."

"Oh, go eat your plushie toys."

* * *

 **(Ridonculous Confessional - How many years, man?)**

( _The Sisters_ )

 **Kitty** \- "You seem a little off. Something wrong?"

 **Emma** \- "It's nothing! Well, it's just… someone did something that kind of surprised me today."

 **Kitty** \- "The day has been kind of full of that, you're going to have to be more specific."

 **Emma** \- * _sighs in frustration_ * "Okay, here's the thing. Owen cracked one of Noah's ribs when he was squeezing him in panic, but when Owen asked him what happened, Noah lied and said he hurt himself."

 **Kitty** \- "Awww, that's so sweet of him~! He doesn't want to make his friend feel bad."

 **Emma** \- "But that's what is so weird! You've seen Noah, he doesn't seem like someone to do something like that… something that nice…"

 **Kitty** \- * _raises an eyebrow and smirks at her sister_ *

 **Emma** \- "And don't you go interpreting what you will from that. Head in the game, not in la-la land, Kitty!"

 **Kitty** \- * _still smirking oh-so-slyly_ * "Right-o, Captain."

* * *

( _The Best Friends_ )

 **Devin** \- "Ever feel like we're participating in a soap opera rather than a reality TV show?"

 **Carrie** \- "Part of me feels more like I'm in a contest. I mean, why is it called reality TV when we're competing? Are they saying that all contest shows before reality TV were fake?"

 **Devin** \- "Personally, I would have preferred more improv shows. Far more spontaneous and a lot less tedious to watch."

 **Carrie** \- "Aww, I think you'd be great at them."

 **Devin** \- "Thanks, homie, but we're digressing. I was talking more about all that happened on the plane today."

 **Carrie** \- * _She glances side to side, obviously hiding something._ * "Oh? I didn't notice. I had, um, something… else on my mind!"

 **Devin** \- * _confused_ * "What? I thought you'd be stoked with all that was happening."

 **Carrie** \- "Stoked? Why would I be stoked?"

 **Devin** \- "Wow, what _was_ on your mind?"

* * *

( _Reality TV Pros_ )

 **Owen** \- "So both Emma and Crimson were with you when you tripped and fell, cracking your rib? Man, that had to have been embarrassing."

 **Noah** \- "You and I have been doing reality shows for three years, that barely makes it on the shame scale."

 **Owen** \- "So… which one you going to ask out?"

 **Noah** \- * _He glares at Owen, not going to dignify that with an answer._ *

 **Owen** \- "Oh, I'm sorry, are they both taken? That's always how it is, the good ones are always taken."

 **Noah** \- "And yet you and I are single."

 **Owen** \- "Aww, that's nice of you to say, buddy!"

* _Owen moves to hug Noah, but the know-it-all holds up his hands._ *

 **Noah** \- "Chest! Rib! No hug!"

 **Owen** \- * _winces in realization, then smiles and moves his arms around an invisible person_ * "Air hug!"

* * *

( _The Goths_ )

 **Crimson** \- * _She blinks, then glances up at him until he finally looks at her. She lowers her head slightly, but stares up at him with questioning eyes._ *

 **Ennui** \- * _He shakes his head and turns away._ *

 **Crimson** \- * _She sighs and turns from him too._ *

* * *

When the plane finally took off, Owen very nearly squeezed the stuffing out of his new plushie pals. Luckily, none of them were consumed in fear.

The ride from Iceland to Brazil was quite the long one, and without the usual form of entertainment one receives on a commercial airline, the passengers grew quite restless. Sleep wasn't easy either, so it was making all of them cranky.

So when they landed in Brazil, most of them were quite eager to sprint out. The Ice Dancers, of course, bounded forward, arms spread, smiling widely for the cameras. Back in the plane, Owen wasn't about ready to let Noah go running out.

"No, you have a serious injury," the large guy declared. "You cannot just go running!"

"Listen, Owen, I am fine! Sure, maybe I cannot run, but you aren't going to take the rest of my pride away by carrying me!"

Owen scanned the inside of the plane, trying to find something in the military flight behemoth. As it was normally used for carrying a great deal of supplies, there was a hand truck tucked in the corner. The big guy smirked, a plan coming to his mind…

…

…

…

"GANGWAY, PEOPLE!" Noah screamed as he held onto the hand truck for dear life, his feet digging into the small platform. "MY REST OF MY PRIDE IS BEING PROPELLED FORWARD AGAINST MY WILL!"

"YEEHAW," Owen declared as he sprinted down the path, pushing the hand truck at an alarming speed. "We are an hour behind the other plane, let's catch up!"

The other teams on the plane all had to jump to the side to avoid being hit by Noah and Owen's unusual transportation. The only ones who didn't react fast enough were the Ice Dancers, who were so focused on posing for the camera that they didn't notice until it was too late.

"Vot is dat noise?" Jacques asked aloud, before turning his head back. "Ack! Mon DIEU!"

He and Josee were bounced into the air upon impact, Owen speeding forward and leaving them to crash on the ground. Noah winced at first, then grinned and said, "And the judges give him a 9.2 for that one!"

"Haha, this should totally be a real sport," Owen exclaimed. "I could see it becoming a SNAKE!"

A rather large snake was slithering across the road. When it saw the very unusual and confusing sight (especially for a snake) of a human pushing another human on a hand truck, it froze in panic. Thus, Owen spun around and sprinted backwards as fast as he could.

"It could have rabies!" Owen wailed, his very loud screaming making the poor, rabies-less snake even more scared.

"Owen, slow down," Noah hollered. "You're going the wrong way-"

He was interrupted when his friend accidentally ran over Josee with the hand truck, knocking her flat on her face again. Then the wheels hit Jacques' head ("Ugggh… vot vas dat? * _CONG!_ * Dere it is again!"), and Noah was sent flying through the air.

The know-it-all didn't see much, except for a black 'n white form being in the way of his flying arc. When he crashed into it, it was a lot softer and warmer landing than he had anticipated.

Before he could fully collect his bearings, especially what soft surface his face had buried into, he heard a rather calm and monotone voice say, "Hello, Noah." It was then that he realized what, or rather who, he had crashed into.

Crimson was laying on her back, spread eagled from the impact. Noah had his face wedged right in the middle of her bosom. He scrambled to get up, as the goth gal barely moved except to merely blink at the rather intimate moment that had just transpired.

When Noah got to his feet, he realized his face was rather warm. For a brief moment, he couldn't tell if that was because he was blushing, or where his face had just been. However, despite all his embarrassment and shock of what just happened, he noticed something rather prominent.

Crimson still lay on the ground, staring up at the sky. Her usual bored look made it hard for him to tell if she was uninterested in getting up, or was hiding her own embarrassment rather well. Either way, Noah couldn't just leave her like that.

He extended his hand down to her, and mumbled, just loud enough for her to hear, "I'm sorry. Wasn't my fault, but… sorry. Here, let me help you up."

The goth gal stared up at him for a few seconds then reached up and took his offer of assistance. When she was on her feet again, she brushed herself off slowly and meticulously. Though when she turned to Noah to say something, the know-it-all was swept off his feet, hoisted onto Owen's shoulder, and carried off.

"We need to hurry," his large friend declared. "I think I really made the Ice Dancers mad when I ran over them! Twice!"

"Then watch for them again!"

Noah's words fell upon deaf, panic-induced ears, as Owen didn't even notice Josee rising up from the ground, growling in fury. Owen's stomach bopped her to the side, and then his foot pushed down on Jacques' head by accident ("Ohhh… did anyone get license number?" STOMP! "Ack! Surely dat time!") as he continued his retreat.

Ennui approached Crimson as she finished dusting herself off. "You okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she replied.

"You sure?"

"I'll live."

"Okay then."

"Don't sulk."

"I'm just concerned."

"Don't worry."

"Fine."

"I said don't sulk."

Carrie was assisting Jacques to his feet, the dazed and trampled Ice Dancer accepting the help willingly. Josee then walked by, yanked Jacques' hand out of Carrie's grasp, and dragged him on his feet.

"No one knocks me down ever again," Josee growled. She noticed the hand truck, and kicked it with a scream. It fell in the bushes a totaled mess. "Come, Jacques! We will _mangle_ those so-called pros!"

"Once my head stops de spinning, I shall smile our way to victory," Jacques assured her. "And de birds, when dey stop chirping!"

Carrie watched them go, then turned towards Devin. "You'd think she'd be a little more worried if he was okay after being knocked around three times."

Devin chuckled, and rubbed her shoulder. "You have such a big heart, you keep assuming other people do too."

"We'd best hurry, make sure she doesn't kill Noah!"

"If she does, at least he may die a happy man!"

She elbowed her best friend, and they hurried to catch up with everyone else. The race was back on, but quite a few people had something else on their mind.

* * *

 **(Ridonculous Confessional - We love you, man! Never leave again!)**

( _The Sisters_ )

 **Kitty** \- "Why are you acting like Noah did that on purpose?"

 **Emma** \- "Who said I blamed him?"

 **Kitty** \- "Whenever you look at him, you scowl. And when I ask about him, you-"

 **Emma** \- "Can we change the subject?"

 **Kitty** \- * _frowning_ * "Do that."

 **Emma** \- "Listen, Kitty. I don't know what you're trying to do, but we're here to win a contest. That's all I'm focused on, and that's all you should be focused on. Not boys, not selfies, just the contest."

 **Kitty** \- "… Wow. You _really_ need a new boyfriend."

 **Emma** \- * _She cries out angrily and storms off, leaving Kitty alone at the confessional._ *

 **Kitty** \- * _to the camera_ * "You know, she hasn't even told me why she and Jake broke up to begin with, and years later it's still upsetting her. This might be tougher than I thought."

* * *

( _The Reality TV Pros_ )

 **Owen** \- * _staring at Noah with great anticipation_ * "So, we survived."

 **Noah** \- * _crossing his arms and looking away, frowning_ * "…"

 **Owen** \- "It was a close one, that was for sure."

 **Noah** \- "…"

 **Owen** \- "And also, you-"

 **Noah** \- "If you bring up anything about what happened after you treated me like live ammunition to a trebuchet, I will _make_ you eat Bumbles, Bazookie, and Batty."

 **Owen** \- "Why?"

 **Noah** \- "Why? WHY? Because it's embarrassing, and disrespectful! And not just for me, but for her!"

 **Owen** \- "Oh, so you _do_ have some respect for Crimson! You do like her!"

* _Noah glares at him for a moment, then reaches down to pick up a bag. He pulls out the bumblebee plushie, and eyes Owen._ *

 **Owen** \- "… Can I have Batty first? He looks tastier."

* * *

The first challenge for Brazil was for the person who didn't swim with sharks, a Botch or Watch that wasn't as lethal but rather painful. No one was eager to stick their hand in an oven mitt full of angry bullet ants.

Kitty was chewing her lip in anxiety, watching Jacques stick his hand in that mitt. He was screaming in pain within a few moments, blubbering something about, "Not even de 'ead injury is dulling de pain! Oh, de stinging!"

The younger sister turned towards Emma, and whimpered, "Are you _sure_ I have to do this? It really is my turn?"

Emma stared her down. "Yeah, because I would _totally_ forget having to swim towards sharks a day ago."

"Snarky as ever," Kitty muttered. She crossed her arms, and said under her breath, "And you wonder why I like the idea of you and Noah together."

"I heard that!"

As Kitty and Emma broke out in an argument, Owen was watching Noah with anticipation. "You going to be okay, little buddy?"

"Sure, nothing I haven't handled before. Just a glove full of poisonous bugs that cause untreatable agony for an entire day."

"Really? I must have missed the show you were on when you had to do that. Did it hurt?"

Noah stared him down, then sighed. "Owen, could you turn on the auto-correct in your brain?"

There was a muffled grunt, a sound becoming quite familiar to Noah. He turned towards the source, and sure enough, Crimson was covering her mouth and was squinting in her efforts to stop herself. When she noticed the know-it-all was looking at her, she spun away, her black 'n white fountain of hair whipping with her.

Noah turned back to Owen, and muttered, "I don't get her. We don't hear her speak for days, and when she does, she's laughing at me."

Owen blinked at this comment. "I think she's laughing with you, buddy."

His friend shook his head. "No, that kind of stuff doesn't happen. Let's just focus now, Owen, I have to get bit from the mitt."

* * *

 **(Individual Confessional - When there's no outhouse, closet, trailer, or bathroom to blurt out your thoughts.)**

( _Noah is standing a short distance from the line of contestants, as everyone waits for the next team to retrieve their ticket from the mitt._ )

 **Noah** \- "It's not that I don't think I _can_ attract a girl, it's just that this doesn't happen for a guy like me. I have been on shows for three years, and even when not on one, I never had a girl truly interested in me.

"Do I think Crimson is making fun of me? It's hard to say at this point. I mean, I've seen all types of people using all kinds of tactics, but this… this is new to me. And even if it's not a ploy, what do I have in common with her?

"I have far much more in common with Emma. I hear she's into law school, she's quick-witted, serious, and my gosh I love how she looks when she gets all stern…"

* _He gets a little starry-eyed, glancing back at the line. Emma is watching Kitty screaming her head off as she retrieves a ticket from the mitt._ * "Then again, I don't know her either. I don't like admitting this, but I'm not sure what to do about… any of this. That's why I am going to be focused on the race."

* * *

 **Emma** \- * _She is standing away from the challenge area. Behind her is Kitty, furiously blowing on her swollen hand and waving it around to remove the pain._ * "I don't get why she's trying to hook me up. I don't need a boyfriend, I don't need a man in my life, I need focus!

"So what if Noah is cute and intelligent? There's plenty of guys out there like that, and I don't need to rush out and find one. If Kitty's so interested in guys, she can date him, not me!"

* _She crosses her arms and turns to the side._ * "After the race, that is. She's always been so scatter-brained and lazy, even though she's a lot smarter than she lets on. I have to be the older sister with her, or she'll just take selfies and nag me about my love life!"

* * *

 **Carrie** \- * _nursing her swollen hand_ * "Nnngh, this really does hurt! But I am trying to keep my mind off it, by focusing on something else.

"I mean, I know I totally sound like a girly girl, but isn't it interesting what's going on right now? Crimson obviously has a thing for Noah, and Emma keeps watching or getting involved! I almost wish there wasn't a race going on, because this is fascinating enough!"

* _She pauses when Kitty runs behind her, screeching as she waves her swollen hand around. Emma chases after her, shouting that she's heading the wrong way._ *

"It… almost makes me forget what I'm going to say to Devin. If I ever do. And… I'm once again saying things that those back home are going to see… including Shelly!"

* _She face-palms with her swollen hand, and her eyes widen in pain._ * "Ohhhkaaaaay, OW. Focus, Carrie, or you're going to end up doing more damage to yourself than the contest ever could!"

* * *

 **Devin** \- * _is checking something on his phone_ * "Okay, I'm trying to see if there are any remedies to bullet ant venom, but the service out here in the jungle is kind of terrible! Still, gotta try, you know? Homie's in pain, and I really don't like seeing her like that.

"I remember this one time when she was six, she fell into a rosebush. She was crying and horrified that the scratches were going to scar her for life, 'cuz she didn't know any better back then. But wow, I think that seeing her crying and in pain, I was more freaked out than her deep down.

"Luckily, she turned out just fine, wouldn't you say?" * _He chuckles, then waves his cell phone around in the air._ * "Seriously, how long does it take for a Wikipedia page to load? It's mostly text!"

* * *

 **Owen** \- "I'm worried about Noah. Normally, he's a lot more calm and steady than he is right now. Maybe he's distracted by that cracked rib he got."

* _In the background, Noah's strained cries of pain echo as he pulls a tip from the mitt full of ants. He is obviously trying very hard not to swear aloud, and his face contorts quite a bit._ *

"Or maybe it's just that he doesn't know what to do when it comes to that cute goth gal or that pretty asian girl. Then again, he's always told me that these things aren't serious. Most relationships that start from a reality TV show end in failure, he says. I guess it's just nothing very serious, so I shouldn't get wrapped up in it too?"

* _He holds up Batty and Bumbles, and starts talking for them._ *

 **Batty** \- * _very Batman-like voice_ * "NO, Owen, you have to help Noah find true love! Grrr, I'm Batty!"

 **Bumbles** \- * _humming voice_ * "Beeeeeeelieveeeeeee in your abiliteeeeee to help your little buddeeeeeee!"

 **Owen** \- "You guys are right! I'm so glad Noah bought you for me!"

* * *

 **Ennui** \- * _He is watching Noah shake off the rest of his initial pain, and walking away from the challenge area. The know-it-all calls out to Owen to stop playing with those plush toys and get a move on. The goth guy frowns and crosses his arms as he surveys Noah the whole time._ *

"… Hmmmmph."

* * *

 **Crimson** \- * _She watches Noah and Owen, specifically the former, leave. Then she turns back to the camera._ * "I've never felt like this over anyone before. It's very odd… I don't know how to describe it."

* _She dramatically crosses her hands over her heart and closes her eyes._ * "It's not in my nature to swoon, but every time he makes one of those cynical remarks, those comments full of quick-witted dark and twisted humor… I cannot keep in my… my… mirth."

* _After spitting out the last word, she sighs heavily_.* "I have no idea where this curiosity is going to take me. Normally, something that is going to make me… laugh… and _smile_ … this isn't something I am into. But to find out why I feel this way…

"It's worth it. He's worth it."

* * *

 **Don** \- "Well, how about this interesting turn of events? Haha, seriously, I totally did not see any of this coming! That's what makes it great!

"But for now, we got to take a bit of a break! See what happens with the cynic, the monochrome monotone, the shorter yet older sister, and everyone else who hasn't been eliminated yet! Something is bound to happen on… _The Ridonculous Race_!"

* * *

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

 **Batty** \- "We feel very strongly for the one named Emma, yes! Even if we are blind, she is very attractive! Grrr!"

 **Bumbles** \- "We like the goth girl! She hasssss that kind of unussssssual beauty you don't ssssssssee jusssssst anywhere!"

 **Batty** \- "Don't disagree with me, my diet consists of insects! Also, I'm Batty!"

 **Bumbles** \- "I'm about the ssssssame ssssizzzzze assssss you! And ssssssssso'ssss your mom!"

 **Batty** \- "My parents are dead, grrrr!"

 **Bazookie** \- "DO I HAVE TO SPLIT YOU TWO UP? ARGUE POLITELY, THIS IS NOT THE INTERNET! ANGER MAKES ME WANNA BLOW THINGS UP!"

 **Noah** \- * _grabs Owen's arm and yanks him away from the camera crew_ * "I didn't get you those to do puppet theater!"


	2. Determination

**Chapter 02** \- **Determination**

* * *

The rest of the challenge in Brazil went rather smoothly for Owen and Noah, until they got to the hang-gliding part. Noah wasn't even sure if the hang-glider could hold Owen, but miraculously, it did.

Not so miraculously, the glider pitched downwards far faster near their descent. Owen's frantic screaming and Noah's cry for people to move out of the way were soon muffled when they found themselves half-buried in sand.

The cynic could hear Don declaring winners as he struggled to free himself from the sand. A panic started to rise in him, as the numbers were getting rather close to fifteen, which would be last place, which could mean elimination.

Noah managed to free himself relatively quickly, and started tugging on Owen. His friend was wedged in pretty tightly, so the strain of pulling was starting to make his rib injury throb in pain.

" _It's worth it. It's worth it!_ " he thought, fighting back the pain.

Then the cadets came gliding it, and MacArthur knocked right into Owen. This dislodged the large guy from the sand, knocked him backwards, and right on top of Noah. The pain in his chest felt like a stab wound, as he was being squashed under his friend against the ground.

"AAAAAAUGH," Noah screamed in agony. "GET OFF! Getoff getoff getoff getoff getoff getoff getoff!"

Owen, dazed from the crash and the impact, was straining to do so, especially when he heard his buddy crying out in pain. It wasn't until MacArthur grabbed him by his wrist, lifted him over herself with the power of her glutes, and tossed him aside. "Civilian down," she barked. Then she quickly realized what she was doing, and uttered, "Oh. You're one of the other teams. My bad!"

Don walked over to Noah, and casually asked, "Are you experiencing sharp shooting pains, Noah?"

"No, I'm just enjoying myself, lying here writhing in agony until I die, thank you very much," the cynic spat out, trying hard and failing miserably to not show any signs of pain.

"I'll get a doctor to give you some red and green herbs, but that's the best I can offer. Injuries that leave you too disabled to compete result in elimination, I'm sorry to say."

"Then get the herbs, and in the meantime, I'll just lie here and contemplate about all the regrets I have. It'll take a long time, believe me."

Don started to page a medical team, as Owen nervously approached his best friend. The big guy looked ready to cry. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you badly?"

"I'll live. I think. I really should have written a will before I started doing these shows."

Carrie and Devin walked up then, staring down at Noah. "It's not safe to leave him here," Carrie pointed out, clenching her hands tightly. "The remaining teams may trample him! Noah, you ready?"

"If you injure me along the way, you are so out of my new will."

As Carrie and Devin took his arms, and Owen took his legs, they moved him over to a bench and laid him out there. Noah groaned, not feeling much better but at least the pain wasn't as intense. Owen glanced down at him, still feeling super guilty.

"You want one of my new stuffed animals to help you feel better, Noah?" he asked.

"It'd be best not to give me Bazookie at the moment."

"He doesn't actually fire ammo, silly."

"No, but he's long enough for me to swat you with!"

Owen winced, and stepped away. Carrie put her hand on the big guy's shoulder, and said, "He's just in pain right now, he doesn't mean that. Just wait until the medic arrives, and things'll be fine. Here, let's go find them!"

The big guy nodded, then quickly fished into his pockets as the Best Friends walked away. Finding Bumbles first, he dropped the bee plushie onto Noah's chest and then dashed off to find the medical team with the Besties. Thus, he didn't realize that the bee plushie had bounced off of Noah's chest, and onto his face.

"Someone want to take this off?" he murmured, slightly muffled. "Anyone? Fine. I'll just lie here with a giant bee on my face, looking like an idiot honeycomb. God, I hate my life."

He felt someone's presence sit down on the bench next to him, and the bee plushie lifted off his face. The pale face of Crimson was right over his in the next instant.

"Oh, hello," he remarked, swallowing the sharp bit of pain that suddenly hit him. For some reason, his heart pounded a bit harder then, making his rib throb.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked, her monotone voice making it hard for him to tell if she was concerned, or asking out of sheer boredom.

"Oh yeah, I'll be fine, I know for a fact I cannot die," Noah muttered. "I mean, Heaven won't take me, and Hell is afraid I'll take over."

Crimson blinked slowly, cocking her head to the side. Noah, wondering if he had lost his touch, went for one more. "Yep, for doing so many reality shows, there is a special place in Hell for me. It's called the throne."

"You're obviously fine if you can make jokes," Crimson remarked.

"It's quite possibly the only sign that I'm still alive. And I mean that literally, because there are days when I feel dead inside."

"You're so," she said, as a little shiver went through her body, one he did notice, " _dark_."

"Yes yes, revel in my pain and misery. You really like to turn up when I get injured, don't you? Do you enjoy this?"

She frowned at him, by which she tightened her eyebrows and her lips curled a little more. It was hard to catch, but Noah was close enough to see it. "I don't take pleasure in other people's suffering."

"You seem to be around me when I get hurt a lot."

"When you get hurt, you seem to accept it, as if there is some reason you deserve it."

Noah frowned right back at her. "Oh, you psycho-analyzing me while I lay here, unable to move? Listen, I'm here to win half a million dollars in a race, not a therapy session where I discuss my family issues."

At this point, a nurse walked over with a full glass of blended red and green herbs. Offering Noah a straw, he chugged down the treatment as fast as he could, then lay back down.

"Listen, Crimson," he muttered, "I don't get if you're trying to study me, analyze me, or maybe you are just fascinated with the guy who constantly gets so close to death that he's got the Grim Reaper on his Christmas card list…

"But what I do know is," he started to say, then the world started to spin as he stared straight up, "oh… the herbs are kicking in. Stupid red and green herbs, shouldn't have taken them down so fast…"

"You'll probably pass out soon," Crimson stated.

"Yeah… do me one favor… if there is driving next challenge… don't let Owen do it… have a bus hit me, it'll be a faster death."

Crimson leaned over him, and kissed him on the lips, an upside-down smooch. His eyes started to go wide, then as he relaxed into it, the healing herbs did their final part and eased him to sleep. When she sat up, she noticed some of the contestants, namely Owen, Carrie, Devin, Emma, Kitty, and Ennui, were staring at her.

But she didn't bother to say a word, she simply got up and walked away, motioning for Ennui to follow her.

* * *

 **(Ridonculous Confessional - Topping a closet!)**

( _The Goths._ )

 **Crimson** \- "Now do you want to talk about it?"

 **Ennui** \- "Not particularly."

 **Crimson** \- "Whatever."

 **Ennui** \- "…"

 **Crimson** \- "…"

 **Ennui** \- * _gets up and walks away_ *

 **Crimson** \- "I wish you wouldn't sulk."

* * *

( _The Sisters._ )

 **Kitty** \- "Aww! Kiss number two! Looks like we got a real couple going on!"

 **Emma** \- "Psssh. Yeah. Her smooching him when he's passing out from a combination of pain and medical treatment is really romantic. She's practically a vampire."

 **Kitty** \- "Huh?"

 **Emma** \- "She's hovering over him when he's in pain, staring at him all creepy like…"

 **Kitty** \- "What have you got against Crimson?"

 **Emma** \- "Nothing! I don't have anything against her, I just don't like her."

 **Kitty** \- * _raises a dubious eyebrow_ * "Uh-huh… couldn't possibly be because she's making a move on Noah, is it?"

 **Emma** \- "I'm here to compete, Kitty. Kindly shut up."

 **Kitty** \- "Sheesh."

* * *

( _The Best Friends_ )

 **Devin** \- * _crosses his arms and smirks at Carrie_ * "Say it. I know you want to."

 **Carrie** \- * _happy squeal_ * "I ship it!"

 **Devin** \- * _rolls his eyes and laughs_ * "Oh boy, here we go. Still, it's kind of a bizarre thing, isn't it?"

 **Carrie** \- "What? What's bizarre about a girl liking a boy?"

 **Devin** \- "I dunno… just, I guess, she's kind of going about this all oddly, don't you think? If she likes him, why doesn't she just say it?"

 **Carrie** \- * _glances nervously to the side_ * "M-maybe she doesn't know how to?"

 **Devin** \- "Well, she'll have to come up with some way to say it, or he's just going to weirded out by her."

 **Carrie** \- * _slumps_ * "Yeah… I guess…"

 **Devin** \- "What's got you down so suddenly?"

* * *

( _The Reality TV Pros._ )

* _Noah is fast asleep, seated in a chair. Owen is holding Bumbles and Batty up in the air, doing voices again._ *

 **Bumbles** \- "And when Noah wakessssss up, we'll asssssssk him how good that kisssssssss wassssss!"

 **Batty** \- "If he even remembers it! Ha ha ha! I'm Batty!"

 **Bumbles** \- "You think the herbsssss will causssssse him to forget his lassssssst consssssscious momentssssss?"

 **Batty** \- "Then we're just going to have to remind him! Ha ha ha! I'm Batty!"

 **Owen** \- "I'm so glad Noah got me these. I feel like I'm entertaining my little buddy as he sleeps away the pain!"

* * *

The last team to cross the Chill Zone turned out to be the Vegans, who were sent home in elimination. Don, still sporting the black eye Laurie had given him, seemed to enjoy this a little more than the other eliminations.

During the two hour break, Don took a phone call. The fourteen teams still in the game didn't have much to do, and thus wandered around for a bit. Owen performed a play with his plushie toys for his sleeping friend.

After the two hours, Noah was starting to stir in his sleep when Don called all of the teams back. "Okay," the host said, "apparently, there's been a bit of a snafu with the next location, due to a couple tourists who messed up what was going to be our next challenge area. So, I'm going to have to tell you this one, instead of a Don box."

He grinned as the Don Box was carted off during his speech. "The rules are going to be the same, you're just going to leave in the order you made it here, when I sound you off.

"Speaking of which, Owen! Is Noah capable of continuing?"

Owen, panicked that Noah wouldn't be able to answer, gripped the back of his friend's head and muttered as best he could without moving his lips, "Um, I'm Noah, and I am going to cynically say yes to-"

Noah slapped Owen's hand away and gave the host a thumbs-up. Don smiled at this, and said, "Alright, because I know you all want to hear this, being native to Canada: you're going to the largest city of our country, Toronto!"

Many cheers went out, especially from Devin and Carrie. "Home-town advantage, homie," he declared happily, high-fiving her.

"Think we'll pass by home?" she asked gleefully.

"Possibly! Hey, maybe we'll even run into Shelly," he said with a fist-pump of enthusiasm. He didn't see it, but Carrie became far less enthused with this comment.

Crimson's eyes widened, and nervously started rubbing her knuckles. "Where exactly?" she asked, her voice still neutral.

"You all will be taking a plane to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, which, if you didn't know, is located on an island. There, you will find a Don Box for your next travel tip! … I hope, they're rushing right now to set it up, this challenge was kind of made on the spot. I hope it's something good."

As the contestants all started to get organized for being called out, Owen helped Noah to his feet. "I can stand," the know-it-all grumbled.

"I just want to help," Owen pleaded. "I feel so bad about squashing you!"

They eventually found their place in line, and Noah, still woozy and wobbly from the healing herbs, leaned against his large friend. That was when he realized Emma and Kitty were in front of them.

"You only got ninth?" he asked. "You seemed so far ahead last time I was… sentient."

"We could have gotten farther," Emma said, glaring at her sister. "But Kitty here took her sweet time making her side of the costume."

"My hand was still so much in pain," Kitty whined. "I mean, it's better now, but it really, really hurt! Noah, you would know, right? You got bit by the ants too."

"All my existence is pain right now," Noah remarked, with a roll of his eyes. "I am on my way to make a great poet, I guess."

Despite herself, Emma chuckled at this. "Okay, that's actually kind of funny. Guess when you lose the million, you'll be on your way to become the next Edgar Allen Poe."

"Quoth the Noah, Never Million," the cynic said.

Again, Emma laughed. Kitty glanced at her, smirking, and as if that was a trigger, the older sister stopped what she was doing. "Um, I mean, whatever! Hope those herbs don't make you so groggy, you cannot finish this challenge."

When she turned away from Noah and Owen, it was the cynic's turn to chuckle. Owen whispered to him, "Aw, I thought she was going to laugh so much at your jokes, she would kiss you too!"

Noah elbowed his friend in the ribs. Or at least he tried to, it was hard to hit that far into Owen.

* * *

 **(Ridonculous Confessional - We gots a world map, baby!)**

( _The Reality TV Pros_ )

 **Owen** \- "So you seem to like Emma…"

 **Noah** \- "She's an intelligent, strict, and beautiful woman. From what I've seen… I mean, I don't know her, Owen."

 **Owen** \- "Maybe if we get on the same plane as her, you can chat her up!"

 **Noah** \- "That… wouldn't be the worst possible thing to happen."

 **Owen** \- "But how are you going to break that to Crimson? I mean, how was that second kiss with her?"

 **Noah** \- * _frowns at him_ * "What are you talking about?"

 **Owen** \- "Oh dear, you don't remember? Here, let me try to remind you!"

 **Batty** \- "Ha ha ha! You were lying down, and Bumbles was on your face, then she picked him up and started talking to you, and-"

* _Noah swats Batty out of Owen's hand_.*

 **Noah** \- "I don't need what I am sure was going to be a thrilling recap, Owen, I remember what happened! I just meant, why do you think I need to talk to Crimson about… whatever it is you think I need to talk to her about?"

 **Owen** \- "She's kind of kissed you twice, I thought-"

 **Noah** \- "She makes zero sense to me, Owen! Zero! You really think I'm interested in a woman I cannot figure out at all? Not to mention, she's dressed like Vampiria, has a tattoo of a bat on her chest, and talks about gloom and doom as casually as you would the weather. You've known me for three years, Owen, does that sound like the kind of girl I would date?"

 **Owen** \- * _glances side to side, and grins nervously_ * "The heart is a fickle thing?"

* * *

The trip to the airport was relatively quiet for Noah and Owen, as the know-it-all didn't care much to go more into his feelings with his best friend. The big guy tried to use his plushie toys again, but that didn't exactly bring Noah out of his shell.

When they reached the airport and boarded a plane, Owen was the one to notice Emma and Kitty were on the same flight. Thus, he made sure to take the window seat, Noah's favorite place, and waited for everyone to sit down. When the plane had taken off, he leaned in to whisper to Noah, "Emma's on the plane~!"

Noah gave him a second-long sideways glance, and said, "I'm trying to keep my head in the game here, Owen. We are racing for a million dollars. I'm staying in this seat."

Owen thought long and hard about what he should do. True, he wanted to stay in the game, and Noah was the smart one, thus needing his time to relax and recharge.

However, being on a plane did trigger one more thing in Owen than sheer panic: heartbreaking nostalgia. He could think back to the time on Total Drama World Tour, when he made the biggest mistake of his life, and broke up with Izzy. Then the plane crashed, on her, and he realized how much he cared about her. And the resulting events were complicated and weird, but all he remembered is that he never managed to say good-bye, much less apologize to her.

Thinking such sad things made Owen scheme like he never schemed before, all for his best friend. He glanced out the window, and muttered, "Gee, flying isn't so bad when I cannot see the ground. All those clouds though… seeing all those white, fluffy clouds made of gasses and such… it makes me feel kind of gassy myself!"

He heard a seat belt click, and a shuffle of movement. With a quick glance to the side, he smiled when he saw the empty seat where Noah had been. Then he actually felt gassy, and cursed that his tactic had worked a little too well.

Noah walked down the aisle, anywhere but near his potentially-flatulent friend. He recognized several of the other teams along the way: the Father & Son, the Rockers, Fashion Bloggers, Best Friends, the lone Sister, the Adversity Twins… wait…

Noah turned around, walking back to where Emma was seated alone. When she noticed him nearby, she asked, annoyed, "Can I help you?"

"Just was doing a quick head-count to size up the competition," Noah said, "and I couldn't help you are down a sister. What, was she too heavy to be considered a carry-on?"

Emma scoffed and rolled her eyes. "She's busy talking to the twins. Seems she feels bad for them or something, because you know, sympathy for our enemy teams is totally going to win us the game."

"Maybe she's undermining them?"

"She doesn't have the heart. Unless of course, they start trash-talking her in an online game, but I doubt they are going to do that."

"If they did, maybe she'll go on tilt, enter gamer rage mode, and take things serious from here on."

"Oh, please, Kitty never takes things seriously," Emma said with another scoff. "Have you any idea what it's like to be the responsible older sibling? It feels like being a parent."

"Actually, I'm the exact opposite," Noah admitted. "I'm the youngest of nine."

"Of _nine_?" She stared up at him incredulously. "Oh my God, how did you survive?"

"Pretty simple, really," he said, sitting down next to her as his legs were getting a little tired. "A good door lock, headphones, books, and a promise that any disturbance results in me spoiling their favorite TV shows."

"I totally should have thought of that," Emma admitted. "But seriously, books?"

"Some of us still like to read, my dear," Noah remarked with a grin. "But yeah, I made the switch to a tablet a while back, keep a bookshelf with me."

"Why don't you have it now?"

"Because I don't have any way to carry it during challenges without risking it be a hinderance or getting destroyed. For this race, I decided to keep my eye on the game."

"I wish my sister was half as focused as you. If you and I had teamed up, we probably would have come in first several times by now."

Both of them smiled, and there was a brief moment where they just enjoyed each other's company like that. Then Emma realized what she was doing, and cleared her throat.

"But we're not, you're my enemy," she said, turning forward. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"Owen's in one of his, well, moods. I don't want to be near him when he's like that."

"Afraid he'll break a rib again?"

"The other kind of mood, the one that may actually be more damaging to my health."

Emma wasn't entirely sure what he meant, but she sighed. "I still shouldn't be talking to you, nor you with me. We're supposed to be focused on the game."

"True. But not much we can do while we're flying on a plane, with our teammates doing other things. So I propose, as a neutral point of conversation, we talk about something that isn't about the challenge or the contest or ourselves, so we cannot gain any advantage over the other person."

She glanced over at him. "How do you propose we do that?"

Noah thought about this. His first question that popped to mind was, " _Do you like movies?_ " but it seemed like a silly thing to ask. "Well, do you like reading too?"

"Yes, but probably not the kind of books you'd like."

"Try me."

* * *

The airplane carrying the second half of the contestants landed during mid-day, and all of them bolted out of the plane. Noah had rejoined Owen at the last minute, and immediately the big guy besieged him with questions.

"Were you talking to Emma the plane ride? Did you get to kiss her? What did you talk about? Did you know that I actually get really gassy when I stare at clouds for too long? Wanna know how happy I am to be back on the ground again?"

Noah promptly ignored these until he reached the Don Box, and hit the big, red button. Reading the tip aloud, he said, " _Either/Or. Either construct a raft from the trash ferries currently docked at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, or cross the water without one at your own peril. The Don Box is on the other side at the dock._ My, how sanitary."

Owen swallowed nervously, then grinned when an idea popped into his head. "Hey, we found out I was rather buoyant in France! Why don't we try that again?"

"We had an oar then," Noah remarked.

"Well, let's see if we can find something in the trash ferries to paddle us across. What do you say, partner?"

"You sure you want to do that again?"

"I'll do anything for the team!"

He raised a hand for a high-five, and Noah sighed. He gave his friend the high-five he wanted, saying, "I guess I cannot argue if you're going to make the sacrifice."

"Just so long as you tell me details about what happened along the way!"

"Ugh, I knew there was a catch to it."

They headed for the trash ferries, where most of the teams were digging through the smelly trash; it seemed most of them didn't want to go swimming without a raft of some kind. Some teams were rummaging through the trash for anything useful, some were constructing rafts already.

Noah saw Emma was already there, searching as best as she could with one hand, as the other was pinching her nose. Crimson was also rummaging through the trash, though appeared undisturbed by the smell… until she gagged, turned away for fresh air, and turned back to it.

The goth gal stepped off the trash ferry, muttering to Ennui about needing fresh air. He shrugged, and went back to looking. Crimson took several deep breaths, as she tried to fight the nausea that came from what she was doing.

"Oh my God, Mom," she heard Taylor, a rather grating voice to her, shouting. "Would it kill you to look a little deeper than two feet into the trash?"

Crimson turned to see Taylor was standing on the shore, arms crossed and staring angrily at her mother, the one digging through the trash.

"I'm just trying not to get anything gross on my clothes, sweetie," Kelly called back, nervously picking through the trash.

"You need to get something that we can use as a raft, remember? I swear, we're falling so far behind because you aren't worked up enough to win this!"

Taylor huffed and took out her nail file. As she started checking her nails, Carrie was walking by, hauling a couple broken suitcases. The blond gal glanced at Kelly digging through the trash, then at Taylor.

"Are you not going to help her?" Carrie asked.

"No," Taylor responded with a tone that implied that had been a really stupid question, "the challenge does not call for both teammates to dig through the trash. So if I don't have to get dirty, then my mom can do it."

"She may need your help, though," Carrie remarked. Just as she spoke, a bunch of garbage fell from a pile Kelly was looking through, right onto her.

"Ugh, and have something like that happen to me? No way," the spoiled girl exclaimed. "She'll find something eventually, if she doesn't take _forever_! Go worry about building your own raft."

Crimson felt herself scowling, much more than she normally did. Her hands also balled into fists, and she felt her blood boil.

As Carrie walked away from Taylor, the spoiled girl called out, "I mean, if you can find anything that'll support those giant hips of yours, blonde."

The goth gal expected Carrie to react to that, but to Crimson's surprise, she didn't. Silently impressed, but miffed over Taylor for reasons she didn't fully understand at the moment, she walked back to the trash and started digging through it.

Nearby, Kitty gagged as she pulled a bunch of used napkins away from the pile. "Why can't we just swim?" she whined to her sister.

"Because neither of us are good enough to make it from here to there, we're not athletes," Emma reasoned. "And even if we did, we'd be too exhausted on the other side for the next part of the challenge!"

"Okay, but I don't see how we're going to find anything to help us cross a river in this heap of garbage!"

Kitty angrily kicked at a pile of said rubbish, and revealed a deflated raft with a small hole in it. She blinked, then smiled. "On second thought, maybe we will!"

As the sisters pulled the damaged raft off of the trash ferry, Carrie was walking back to Devin with the broken suitcases. He was duct-taping them together with half a roll he had found in the trash.

"Can you believe what people throw away?" he said as he started on the suitcases Carrie had handed him. "I mean, seriously, there's still so much tape on this roll as it is, and half of these suitcases are useable with a little patch job!"

"Yeah," Carrie remarked, obviously distracted.

He stopped taping the suitcases, looking up at her. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just," she started to say, then sighed heavily. "I feel kind of guilty."

"What about?"

"When you were napping on the plane, I started talking to Tom and Jen. They were telling me all about their fashion blog, and then I asked them which of them started it."

"What's wrong with that?"

Carrie pointed towards the trash ferries, where Tom and Jen were standing with their backs to each other, angry and sulky frowns on their faces.

"They started arguing who came up with it, and now they won't even look at each other," she said, shaking her head. "I feel so bad, I feel like I broke them up."

"Carrie, you cannot blame yourself if they haven't resolved that issue," Devin assured her. "I mean, that would have come up between them whether or not you asked eventually."

"It's just, I want to win the million, sure, but I don't want to feel like some kind of home wrecker to do so!"

"Come on, homie, if they are mature adults, they can resolve this issue and continue with the challenge."

As they both went back to working on their impromptu ramp, Kitty had procured another roll of duct tape from the trash ferry, this one still with about a quarter of the tape. As she worked on patching the hole, she turned to her sister and asked, "Which one of us is going to blow it up?"

Emma grimaced, realizing the air hole had been exposed to indeterminate grossness from whatever it had been buried under. "Um, maybe we can get someone else to do that, in exchange for a ride with us. The raft is big enough for four."

"I thought you didn't trust anyone," Kitty protested.

"I don't, but if they agree to help us, that's more us using someone else to get us ahead."

"Uh-huh," her sister said, smirking, "and what part of your conversation with Noah on the plane was about you using him?"

"How did you," Emma stammered, then growled. "We just talked, okay? Only talked! Nothing about me, or the race, or anything that could hurt our chances! And speaking of Noah, maybe Owen would be willing to blow it up. Have you seen him?"

Kitty pursed her lips, and pointed in the area where the contestants were supposed to raft/swim from towards the city shoreline. Owen and Noah were already in the water, the big guy as the raft as the cynic paddled with half of an oar.

"Dang," Emma grumbled.

"What's the matter, you wanted to talk to him more?"

"Kitty, shut up and focus on the challenge, or I'll make you put all your hot air to good use!"

* * *

 **(Ridonculous Confessional - Trash is divulged here too, among other things!)**

( _The Best Friends_ )

 **Devin** \- "There's something else bothering you besides Tom and Jen, isn't there?"

 **Carrie** \- "Oh, it's stupid. Just that bratty girl with her mom, Taylor I think her name is? She made fun of my hips."

 **Devin** \- * _He stares at her with serious concern._ * "You do know she's just a rich snob who thinks she's all that, her opinion shouldn't matter to you."

 **Carrie** \- "I know, don't worry, Devin."

 **Devin** \- "I am a little worried now. Please tell me it didn't upset you."

 **Carrie** \- "Devin, I'm perfectly fine, I swear. The only reason it was on my mind was because I realized she may be the kind to fight dirty."

 **Devin** \- "Alright then, if it's just that."

* * *

( _The Fashion Bloggers_ )

 **Tom** \- "So Kitty offered us a ride on the raft she and her sister found if we blew it up."

 **Jen** \- "Yeah, I told them with all the hot air _Tom_ expels, he could make that raft fly."

 **Tom** \- "It's nothing compared to how much you release when you try to say beanies may make a comeback."

 **Jen** \- * _She gasps, and glares at him._ * "Well at least they are better than that stupid hat you're suddenly trying to promote!"

 **Tom** \- * _angrily puts a fez on_ * "Fezzes are cool! I am going to proudly wear this through Toronto, just to show you who knows real fashion!"

 **Jen** \- "You aren't putting that on _my_ blog!"

 **Tom** \- "It's _my_ blog!"

* * *

( _Mother & Daughter_)

 **Taylor** \- "It took forever for Mom to find something in that garbage we could use, and it still smelt terrible. I totally would have found something sooner just from looking, but that fat girl distracted me."

 **Kelly** \- * _glancing around, confused_ * "'Fat girl'? Are you talking about the cadet woman?"

 **Taylor** \- " _No_ , Mom, Carrie! The blond girl in the ugly green top, total lard hips there. Reminds me of you before you started taking yoga."

 **Kelly** \- * _nervous laugh_ * "Thanks, I guess?"

 **Taylor** \- "Yeah, I said, 'before,' you're welcome."

* * *

( _The Sisters_ )

 **Kitty** \- "I don't get why you have to get so mad at me."

 **Emma** \- "Because you keep acting like there is something going on between Noah and I!"

 **Kitty** \- "You talked to him for about eight hours on the plane, Emma."

 **Emma** \- "Yeah, and you know what we talked about? We talked about…"

* * *

"Books, and only books," Noah said to Owen, as he paddled. "We didn't talk about anything else, because if we did, that would be confiding in an enemy team."

"Really? Not even about yourselves?" Owen asked, staring up at his friend on his belly. "I mean, what would be the harm in that?"

"Talking about yourself reveals who you are, what you would do to win a game, and possible angles to exploit. I mean, what, you want me to give her that list of life-threatening allergies I got?"

"She's not going to throw a panda at you, Noah."

"Well, whatever, we talked about books the whole way, and that said enough about her. She loves mysteries a lot, probably read more than I have, with how many series she mentioned I didn't know."

"So you did enjoy talking to her?"

"Yes," Noah said, allowing himself to smile a little, "I did enjoy talking to a girl. Fancy that, huh? It's not like such a thing were outlandishly impossible, now was it?"

"I'm just happy for you, buddy! But still, what are you going to tell Crimson?"

"Owen," Noah said with a frown, "don't make me flip you around."

They reached the shore, and Noah stuffed the broken oar into a nearby garbage can. A quick scan of the shore revealed no other contestants, but they found the Don Box relatively quickly. Owen pushed the button, and read it.

" _All In. A random café has the next Don Box inside. Find it, and press the button to receive the next tip. This contains directions to the Chill Zone, where you will head immediately if you wish to stay in the race._ Hey hey, this sounds relatively easy! All we gotta do is find the right café!"

Noah stared at him, then pointed in the general direction of Toronto. "Yeah, easy. A random café, in the largest city of all of Canada."

"… Oh."

"And we are not ordering anything from any of them until we find the right one, or you'll want something from each one."

"But we didn't get anything in Brazil," Owen whined. "I stayed by you while you were recovering, so we didn't get to eat anything there."

Noah face-palmed, then glanced out at the water. He could see a couple teams heading across on rafts, still a good distance but closing. "Alright, here's my offer: we get what you want at the first café we find that doesn't have a long line, and we eat and drink on the go."

"Sounds like a plan! Let's go, buddy!"

* * *

Emma and Kitty down the sidewalk, keeping an eye out for nearby cafés. The former appeared a little bit distracted, while the latter was more than happy to take advantage of that. Kitty was taking selfies at every corner, stoked as can be to visit Toronto.

Eventually though, after checking out seventeen cafés and no sign of the Don Box, even the energetic Kitty was starting to feel a sense of dread at how long and tiring this could be. "How do you think the others are doing?" she casually asked her sister.

"Damned if I know, they're probably at the Chill Zone by now," Emma grumbled angrily. "The worst part of it is, I cannot tell if this is a pathetically easy challenge, or an insane, stupid one."

Kitty was confused by this at first, then she grinned. "Ohh, you want to get your favorite latte at one of these cafés, but don't want to waste the time. Next coffee shop, I'll buy one for you!"

"No," Emma declared. "We keep our head in the game, at all times! If you get in line, you waste valuable time over a drink you could get any day. Use your better judgement!"

Kitty sighed, then glanced into the next café. A rather large guy wearing a white shirt caught her attention. "Hey, is that Owen and Noah?"

Emma peered in too, noticing Noah standing next to his friend, in an admittedly short but still time-consuming line. She groaned in disgust, and muttered, "Guess he's not as focused on the race as he thought."

Kitty turned towards her sister, offering an optimistic smile. "Aw c'mon, maybe they just to-WHOA!" Emma dragged Kitty away by her arm, continuing on their hunt for the Don Box.

* * *

 **(Ridonculous Confessional - Venti cinnamon latte, please!)**

( _The Reality TV Pros_ )

 **Noah** \- "Most shops in Toronto don't allow you to use the restroom, unless you pay for something. At least, all the ones we kept running into had that policy."

 **Owen** \- "And I really needed to go after the plane ride, since I don't feel safe in airplane restrooms after World Tour…"

 **Noah** \- "The world trembles when Owen has to hold it in. Or at least mine does, so I consider this a necessary sacrifice of time."

 **Owen** \- * _lifts up a large drink and takes a sip_ * "Especially since the barista made my order just right."

 **Noah** \- * _sips from his drink too_ * "Yeah, I gotta admit, not bad."

* * *

Carrie and Devin had split up on one particularly long street, each searching the cafés on their side. While he was trying to wade through a bunch of crowds, Carrie was having a lot more luck.

She almost didn't believe her eyes when she saw the Don Box tucked in one side of the coffee shop. Nudging her way in, she pressed the button, and received the tip with directions to the Chill Zone.

"Oh, I wonder if we're the first team to find this," she said to herself, unable to remove the smile. "We could get first again!"

She walked outside, searching for Devin on the other side of the street. That was when she saw Tom and Jen, still bitterly sulking, heading her way.

" _Oh what do I do?_ " she thought desperately. " _I know that Devin said I shouldn't feel guilty, but I still do over…_ "

Her train of thought stopped immediately when she saw Taylor push her way past the Fashion Bloggers, impatiently storming down the sidewalk. Carrie quickly hid the tip behind her back as the spoiled teen walked right up to her.

"Was that a tip you had?" Taylor inquired, staring down the blond gal.

"Um, no," Carrie lied. "Haven't seen the Don Box quite yet, been searching every café in this ginormous city! It's a tough challenge, ain't it?"

Taylor glared at her suspiciously, crossing her arms as she said, "I could have sworn you were just holding one. My mom's taking her sweet time searching the cafés on the other side, we're going to be stuck here forever at this rate."

As much as Carrie wanted to snap at the brat over this, she noticed Tom and Jen walk by. Her sense of compassion and guilt over what happened earlier skyrocketed when she realized they were passing by the café with the Don Box inside; all she could think about was how if they never found the tip, it was her fault, in a way.

"Wait, Tom," she called out, turning her back on Taylor, "Jen! There's something I need to tell you two!"

When the Fashion Bloggers turned towards the Bestie, Carrie accidentally revealed what she had in her hand to Taylor. The spoiled girl growled, and snatched the tip right out of her hand. "I knew you had one," Taylor spat, "you lying slut!"

"Whoa, what?" Jen said as she and Tom approached the two. "What's going on?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," Taylor said, keeping the tip behind her back, away from Carrie. "This _fat_ liar just tried to get me eliminated."

"Okay, I have no idea where you're getting that 'fat' thing from," Tom said, frowning at Taylor. "Carrie's a perfectly normal size."

"Sheesh, fine mister white knight, why don't you just marry her then?" Taylor said. She turned from them, and started walking, before she stopped on a second thought, and cast an unfriendly smile back at Tom. "Then again, you'll have to wait until the race takes us to America. I hear it's now legal for weirdos like you to get married there."

She strut off, searching the other side of the street for her mother. Jen clenched her hands, and shouted, "You come back here and say that to my manicured fist, you horrible, wretched little-"

"No, Jen, don't," Tom said, grasping his friend's shoulder. "It's not worth it."

"Did you hear what she said to you?" Jen asked, incredulous and angry. "I won't have any of that! I won't-"

"I've told you before, if you get this riled over people who go at me like that, you're just going to exhaust yourself," he said. He managed to smile and add, "And I don't want worry lines to grow on your face, especially not at your age."

Jen heaved a sigh, shaking her head. "I know, I know… I just get so mad when people treat you like that! I really shouldn't care, she's a selfish brat, but… I just don't like it!"

She turned and hugged her friend, who returned it. Carrie couldn't help but smile, and ask, "Guess that means you two have stopped fighting?"

"It was a stupid thing to fight about," Jen declared, rather emotionally. "I totally should have remembered the blog was made by you, Tom!"

"Oh don't be silly, you're the one who thought of it!"

Carrie giggled, then she noticed Devin waving at her across the street. He shrugged his shoulders, confused by the little scene that was taking place near his best friend. She beckoned him over, then turned to the Fashion Bloggers, and said, "There's still something I need to tell you two…"

* * *

Noah and Owen were growing rather tired at this point. While the big guy didn't like endless walking in general, the know-it-all felt like he had to elbow every hipster to ever grace a café in vain searches.

"Man, I don't like how long this is taking," Owen complained. "At this rate, that drink we had is going to go right through me, and I'll need to go again."

With a frustrated face-palm, Noah grumbled, "Oh great, you know what that means? We've created a vicious cycle. You need to use the restroom, they won't let you unless we buy something, you'll drink or eat it, then need to go again, and the process repeats itself!"

"What if I don't drink or eat what we buy?"

"Owen, you couldn't resist eating the cheese raft when you were sitting on it."

"Oh yeah," the big guy said with a laugh. "Well, just make sure not to get anything cheese related then?"

They continued on their hunt for the café with the Don Box with a little more silence. Upon coming to a street with shops on both sides, Noah suggested they split up, but Owen didn't want to be left alone on a crowded street.

"Plus, I want to hear more about you and Emma," the big guy said.

"I already told you, we talked about books and mystery series."

"That's all? I mean, really, nothing else at all?"

"What are you expecting, that one of us burst into a confession of unrequited romance?"

"It's just that my first encounter with Izzy was a little more exciting, I thought all couples go through that."

"We're not a couple, Owen, we just talked."

"For quite a while."

"Yes, we talked for most of the plane ride! That doesn't mean I'm going to marry Emma, Owen! Come on!"

Noah would have carried on, but he and his and friend almost ran right into Crimson and Ennui right then and there. The goths stared at them, her at Noah, having overheard some of the Pros' conversation.

Crimson glanced at the café the four had stopped in front of, and walked in. "Wait here," she said, crossing her arms and staring more at the ground than where she was going.

Owen and Noah watched her go, both a little confused. Only Noah realized that she must have heard the last part of what he said to Owen, and how awkward that must have been to overhear.

The know-it-all, standing outside the café for a minute or two, finally started to feel just a little guilty. "Hey, what's taking her so long in there?" he asked Ennui. The windows to café were a little dark, making it hard to see inside.

Ennui just shrugged, and Noah frowned. "Well, thanks for the input there, Lethargy. If you don't mind, I'm just going to make sure-"

As Noah stepped towards the café, Ennui reached out and grabbed him by the collar of his sweater vest. Pulling him closer to his face, which lifted up the bookworm quite a bit as the goth was relatively taller than him, Noah got an up-close look at the frowning goth.

"Listen here," Ennui growled, his voice still monotone but deathly serious, "if you do anything to hurt Crimson, I swear, your rib injury will feel like a sunny day compared to the explicit pain I will bring upon you."

Noah had been threatened before, on some of the numerous shows he had been on by zealous contestants. This was the first time someone had said a threat that actually sounded one hundred percent genuine.

Before he could do or say anything, Owen reached over, grabbed Ennui by his own shirt collar, and yanked him up to his face. "Listen here, goth boy," he snarled in Ennui's face, "if you _ever_ try to do anything to hurt my little buddy, I'll give you a distinct relationship with the theme of cracked skulls!"

Ennui blinked his yellow eyes as he peered into Owen's riled stare. "That's… relatively threatening," the goth admitted. "I believe I am a little intimidated by that."

"You'd better be!"

Noah stared up at the two, almost wedged between them, as Ennui was still clutching Noah, and Owen was still grasping Ennui. They stood there like that, until they heard Crimson say, "Um, what's going on?"

The goth gal had a carrying case with four cups of dark looking frozen drinks, as well as two travel tips wedged in-between the cups. Owen stared hungrily at them, then asked, "Wait, are those… for us?"

"Two drinks, one ticket," Crimson offered. "Extra dark mocha frap, I hope you like."

Owen and Ennui let go of the one they had been threatening, and the big guy grabbed a drink eagerly. Thanking Crimson a bunch, he started slogging it down. Ennui took his, and slowly sipped it.

"What was going on?" she repeated her question, glancing between the three guys.

"Nothing," they all responded in unison.

Crimson didn't believe them, but she ignored it for now. Turning to Noah, she handed him one of the travel tips, then picked up one of the drinks. She took a sip from it, then offered it to Noah.

As a bit of a germophobe, Noah normally would have found this action to be incredibly disgusting. But as she stood there offering the drink, her black lipstick smudge on the straw, Noah was entirely baffled why he _wasn't_ grossed out over this. He took the drink and sipped it too.

"Thanks," he said. "Though I have to ask, why?"

"Because I wanted to," she replied, shrugging her shoulders.

Noah took another sip, completely baffled by this woman. He sighed, then decided to offer to help as she had. "Maybe we should stick together for the trek to the Chill Zone? We are in Toronto after all, with so many Canadians accidentally bumping into each other, it may sicken your gothic heart to hear so many people sincerely saying 'soo'ry' to each other!"

Crimson shook a little, as she bit her bottom lip. Glancing at Ennui, he let out a long sigh. "Fine," he grumbled.

"To the Chill Zone," Owen happily declared.

* * *

 **(Ridonculous Race - Can we come too?)**

( _The Reality TV Pros_ )

 **Noah** \- "Okay, where did _that_ side of you come from?"

 **Owen** \- "What do you mean?"

 **Noah** \- "As long as I've known you, I've never known you to threaten someone with bodily harm. At worst, you've gotten mad and sworn, but not threaten!"

 **Owen** \- "Ehehe, well, he sounded so serious when threatening you, I knew I had to step in. Ennui may be scary, but I won't let him threaten you!"

 **Noah** \- "Well… thank you, Owen."

 **Owen** \- "No problem! But what do you suppose has him so mad? You told me they weren't dating… do you think he still has a crush on her? Or that he really cares about her but won't say?"

 **Noah** \- "You're asking me if I understand him any better than you? People aren't my thing, buddy."

* * *

( _The Goths_ )

 **Crimson** \- "What was that about, outside the café?"

 **Ennui** \- "I was just making something clear with Noah."

 **Crimson** \- * _frowns at him, crossing her arms_ * "What, exactly?"

 **Ennui** \- "Making sure he didn't try anything."

 **Crimson** \- "Thanks, but I can take care of myself."

 **Ennui** \- "Okay."

 **Crimson** \- "I know you can be dark, but I don't want to know what you said to make Owen of all people mad enough to grab you."

 **Ennui** \- "Fine."

 **Crimson** \- "Please stop sulking."

* * *

The walk towards the Chill Zone was rather quiet at first, with Owen and Ennui exchanging frowns as they sipped their drinks. Crimson and Noah were naturally silent people, though she occasionally glanced at him, as if expecting or hoping for him to say something.

About a half hour into the walk, eventually he folded to this silent request. "You ever been to Toronto?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "Have you?"

"Oh yeah, a few times. A few of the shows Owen and I have been in have taken us here. I don't really like it that much."

"It's too big and crowded at the same time."

"Exactly! Smells like car smog everywhere I go. Still, gotta hand it to them, we'll never go thirsty with how many cafés they have!"

"I hate most drinks," Crimson said, "but I have a particular craving for extra dark mocha."

"Yes, about that," Noah said as he took another swallow of the extra dark mocha frap, "every sip tastes like the bitterness of a thousand angry reviews of a movie on the internet."

She sipped her drink again, watching him. "Do you like it?"

"I think I could adapt. Heck, I used to live off the internet, bitterness is in my bones."

Crimson glanced to the side as she had a thought of a question that was kind of silly, but she wanted to ask him anyway. "What kind of movie reviews were you referring to?"

"Oh, take your pick. Michael Bay, Adam Sandler, that pretentious twerp Tarantino…"

The bookworm glanced ahead, and added, "Speaking of pretentious twerps, look who beat us to the Chill Zone. Darn."

Noah pointed towards Taylor, who was seated on a bench reading a magazine nearby the Chill Zone. Also nearby the Chill Zone was her mother, the Sisters, the Fashion Bloggers, and the Best Friends. Don noticed the two teams approaching, and stepped towards them.

"Congratulations, Goths and Pros," he said, "you're tied for fifth place."

"Not bad," Noah commented.

"Woohoo," Owen cheered.

"…," was the response from Ennui and Crimson.

"Now, just stick close to the Chill Zone, please," Don instructed them, "Like I said in Brazil, we kind of had to make this challenge up on the fly, so we need you all to stay close."

The Goths and Pros walked over to the other side of the Chill Zone, where the other teams were waiting. Kitty was chatting with Carrie and Devin, Tom and Jen were complimenting each other as they both were wearing fezzes now, and Emma was alone, lost in her own thoughts.

That was, until she saw the two newly arrived teams come by, and she frowned at Noah. "I thought you said you were serious about the game," she spat out, "but now you're sharing drinks and allied with the Goths."

"This isn't an alliance," Ennui said as he and Crimson continued walking, putting some distance between them and Emma. The older sister rolled her eyes at them, then focused back on Noah.

"It's kind of hard to believe you're taking this competition seriously if you stop for drinks in the middle of it, Noah!"

"Actually, Crimson bought these for us," Owen said, nervously grinning to try and calm down Emma.

"So it _is_ some kind of alliance? Or maybe it's just that weird crush thing she has on you? Maybe there's a little bit of poison in your drink, Noah, she seems to be around you when you're in pain."

Noah replied by finishing his drink with a loud slurp, and dropped it in a nearby trash bin. "And yet, I feel fine, so twas not poison that killed the Noah. Elementary, my dear Emma Watson."

"Aww, I loved her in those Harry Potter movies," Owen gushed.

Kitty walked up next to her sister. "Okay, I know you are all about being professional in this race, but how is chewing out the competition for not taking it seriously going to help us?"

Emma turned on her sister. "You're right, I probably should be chewing out my teammate, who is more interested in taking pictures of herself than crossing the finish line!"

Kitty was at first startled, but then she grinned. "There, see? That's professional _and_ serious over the game."

Her sister cried out in utter frustration. "You are utterly impossible! I am warning you right now, Kitty, if you don't take this race more seriously, when we get home, I am going to break everything related to cameras and video games that we have!"

Emma stormed off to be alone, while Kitty and pretty much everyone watched her go. The younger sister sighed, and said aloud, "Maybe we should have stopped for a cinnamon latte."

* * *

 **(Ridonculous Confessional - I'd like one too, please!)**

( _The Reality TV Pros_ )

 **Owen** \- "Emma seemed kind of mad at you."

 **Noah** \- "If she wants to vent her frustrations out on me, she already knows I have eight older siblings. The scolding from an older sister is something I have built total immunity to."

 **Owen** \- "Do you think they're all watching you? Your family, I mean."

 **Noah** \- "I'm sure they have better things to do than watch myself get humiliated for the umpteenth time on international television."

 **Owen** \- "Well, then I'll just have to have my family cheer you on as well as me."

 **Noah** \- * _to the camera_ * "My sincerest thanks to the Waterflower family for giving me the encouragement to make a total fool of myself."

 **Owen** \- "That's the spirit!"

* * *

( _The Goths_ )

 **Ennui** \- "You didn't seem to want to come to Toronto when the challenge was first announced."

 **Crimson** \- * _glancing to the side_ * "I don't want to talk about it."

 **Ennui** \- "Okay."

 **Crimson** \- * _stares up at him_ * "You're not going to try to pry it from me?"

 **Ennui** \- "Why? I know that won't work."

 **Crimson** \- "Yeah." * _She finishes her extra mocha frap._ * "Whatever."

 **Ennui** \- "Now who's sulking?"

* * *

The next team to arrive at the Chill Zone were the Father & Son, quite shortly after the Goths and Pros did.

"Seventh place, not bad," Dwayne Sr. reasoned. He glanced over at Devin and Carrie, and grinned. "You weren't the only ones with a hometown advantage!"

"Woo, Toronto," Carrie exclaimed with gusto.

"Home of the Blue Jays," Junior chimed in.

"GO, BLUE JAYS," the four all cheered at once.

As the rest of the teams either smiled or rolled their eyes at this, Devin and Dwayne Sr. started talking about where they were from in this gigantic city. Junior started talking to Carrie, and with how he lowered his voice and attempted to speak smoothly, his crush on her was obvious even to the most thick of observers.

"Ooo, he likes her," Owen gushed, watching Junior chatting up Carrie. "That's so cute!"

"Yeah, but he's going to learn sooner or later that Father Time cheated him by about half a decade in his chances with her," Noah remarked. "Still, gotta hand it to the kid for trying. Apparently, gentlemen prefer blonds."

"You think our host does too?" his friend asked, pointing over at Don. The host was having a casual conversation with Kelly as he waited for the other contestants to show up.

"Probably, but he seems smart enough not to flirt back with the contestants of a show he is hosting," Noah remarked. "That could lead to serious trouble."

"Ah, women," Owen said with a wistful sigh. "They can be the cause of so much trouble for us poor men, can they not? You have two right now that confuse you to no end."

Noah frowned at him, saying, "They're not bamboozling me, if that's what you're implying. I am focused on the game, not the idea of some girl running into my open arms like a scene from a movie."

"DEVIN~!"

Everyone present at the Chill Zone looked around to see a very attractive brunette heading across the street to the contestants. Owen felt an immediate attraction, then watched as she ran towards Devin, and felt a little bit guilty and disappointed instead.

"Shelly," Devin called out to the girl as she ran up to him. He scooped her up in her arms, twirled them around, and then kissed her. "How did you find us?"

"Well, I heard on the internet that the Ridonculous Race was heading to Toronto," she explained, moving her hands as she spoke, which resulted in her sparkly nails shining in the light, "and I managed to get all my friends to keep me posted if they saw where they were setting up the Chill Zone.

"So I raced over here, because I knew you'd get here sooner rather than later, just so I can see you!"

She laughed, as did Devin, and they embraced again. Nearby them, Carrie watched, frowning in a way that was such a complex range of emotions, even she couldn't define it.

"Hey," Kelly whispered to Don, "is he allowed to see her while the race is still going on?"

Don shrugged, and said, "Eh, it's not like she can do anything to assist him when he's already made it to the Chill Zone. Plus, it'll make for good television, seeing a couple lovebirds reunite temporarily. Maybe your husband could try and visit us, that'd be neat to see!"

Kelly pursed her lips and glanced away, trying to ignore the happy laughs of Devin and Shelly. Most of the other teams were watching too, with Junior staying close to Carrie, as he started to realize this truly meant she was available.

"So, yeah, I know you may have to leave soon," Shelly was saying to Devin, "because the other teams could get here any moment, but I just _had_ to see you! You're doing great, I saw that you made it first place in the first challenge! First! I knew you could do it!"

"Aw thanks, but I didn't do it alone," Devin admitted, glancing over at his teammate.

Shelly rounded on Carrie, who flinched when she suddenly realized that she had confessed multiple times to being love with Devin, and her clear dislike for his girlfriend. Said girlfriend was heading right towards Carrie now, and the blond gal didn't know if she should get ready to be yelled at, or attacked.

So the last thing Carrie was expecting was for Shelly to throw her arms around her, embracing her in a hug. "You are doing such a good job with Devin," Shelly said with cheer. "I mean, seriously, I know you two have been friends your whole lives, but you work so well together, I'm getting jealous!"

"Huh?" was all Carrie could say. When Shelly pulled back, she 'booped' Carrie's nose with her fingertip.

"And I heard some of the things you said on camera, but don't worry," she said with a giggle, "I know how it can be. Alone out there, pressure of the race, sometimes in the desert and sometimes in the jungle. Just take care of him, that's all I ask!"

"Um, okay," Carrie said, forcing herself to smile.

Shelly went back to Devin, showing him his cellphone. "Now, let me fill you in on all that you've been missing during the race, and you tell me all the details that didn't make it on TV!"

As the two walked a fair distance from the others, Shelly's head on Devin's shoulder, Carrie watched them go. And it felt like someone had attached her heart to a tow-truck, and ripped it from her chest, dragging it alongside the couple so she could see it leave.

Kitty and Junior were standing nearby her, also watching the couple go. "She seems real nice," Kitty said with a cheerful smile.

"Yeah, and she's real pretty and such," Junior gushed. Then he cleared his throat, and added in a deeper voice, "But not as much as you, Carrie."

She didn't answer them, just stared at Devin and Shelly from a distance. Both Kitty and Junior quickly realized how upset Carrie was, and looked at her with concern. "You okay?" Kitty asked, glancing between her and the couple.

"In the three years Shelly and Devin have been going out together," Carrie muttered, "that's the nicest she's been to me. I literally cannot remember the last time she even smiled at me."

"Maybe she just missed Devin so much, she realized what a great friend you are to him as well?" Kitty offered. When Carrie didn't offer, the younger sister bit her bottom lip, and muttered, "Or… maybe I should leave it be, because it's none of my business?"

"No, it's okay," Carrie said, walking over to a bench and sitting down. "I just… I guess I should have seen this coming.

* * *

 **(Ridonculous Confessional - Lanoissefnoc Suolucnodir!)**

( _The Sisters_ )

 **Emma** \- "I saw you talking to Carrie after her partner's girlfriend showed up. Didn't I tell you to keep your head in the game? Do you not listen to me at all?"

 **Kitty** \- "Okay, first off, I'm allowed to _talk_ to other people, Emma. And secondly, this was a case of love!"

 **Emma** \- "What?"

 **Kitty** \- "Yeah, can't you see? Carrie is totally in love with her best friend! It's so cute and romantic and sweet and charming-"

 **Emma** \- "And it's none of our business! Besides, how can you even tell?"

 **Kitty** \- "She looks at him so fondly when he isn't looking, and she is so happy when they're together. And when that girl Shelly showed up, Carrie was, like, so devastated when she realized the relationship was very strong!"

 **Emma** \- "Or maybe she's jealous that he has a good relationship and she doesn't. Stop fraternizing with the enemy teams, or I'll make good on that threat about the cameras and video games!"

 **Kitty** \- "… It's not my fault your last relationship wasn't that good."

* _Emma stands up, an enraged look on her face. Kitty, realizing she may have overstepped there, dashes away as fast as she can._ *

* * *

Shortly after Shelly had made it to the Chill Zone to see her boyfriend, the Ice Dancers arrived to come in eighth place. The utter fury Josee unleashed at such a position had many of the contestants hiding, including Jacques.

When she had finally settled down, the Police Cadets showed up. MacArthur was chugging down quite the sizable soda cup, which she had obviously got at a gas station, rather than a café.

"Pit stops are cafés to me," she had argued with Don when he asked about it. "You keep your fancy lattes and espressos, I will go for a half a gallon of caffeine, and then nothing will stop me! Nothing!"

About fifteen minutes later, she was running to the nearest restroom. Sanders called out, "I told you so," which resulted in the empty cup being chucked at her, but she ducked in time.

By this time, the teams were all seated around the Chill Zone, talking to their teammates, other teams, their girlfriend (in Devin's case), or just seated silently.

Crimson watched Noah from afar, not sure if she should approach or not, wondering if she already spoken enough to him on their trek to the Chill Zone; this conundrum was resolved when he fell asleep, against Owen's side.

" _He probably hasn't slept in a while, if he stayed up on the plane ride to talk to Emma,_ " Crimson thought. " _I wonder what they talked about… and why do I care? I shouldn't care, I never cared about stuff like this._ "

She slumped forward, covering her face with her hands. Peering down at the sidewalk in-between her fingers, she spotted a few ants marching in a line. " _Those mindless insects have more of a path set for themselves than me. This is just… lame. Should I do something, or wait for him? I mean, is he just plain weirded out when I try something? And every time I get close, I…_ "

"If I could have everyone's attention," Don said, his voice loud enough to alert all of the teams around the Chill Zone. Owen woke up Noah to hear the host's speech. "The sun will be setting soon, and we're still down _five_ teams. I've spoken to some of our producers on the phone, and we've decided to just call it a non-elimination draw for the sake of film and time.

"We've sent out rescue patrols to find the Stepbrothers, Daters, Adversity Twins, Surfer Dudes, and Rockers, see if we can get them to a hotel or something before the sun goes down and they're all jumped by very polite Canadian muggers. Apparently, as I argued, the final part of this challenge was a very, very bad idea, and it's sheer luck that so many of you made it here as it is.

"And in the meantime, it's my most sincere apologies that as we close for the night, our team hasn't had the time to find if there are any hotels with enough rooms for the night to store all of you. So accommodations are going to be entirely up to you all."

Most of the contestants let out groans of protests and disgust, while Don held up a hand. "Now before you complain about this being totally unprofessional, I must add… you're entirely right, they didn't set up anything for me either. I'm just as stuck as you all are…

"And on an even more sour note, the producers have asked that none of you who live in Toronto head home for the night. We need you here at nine o'clock sharp, or the challenge will start without you."

Junior groaned the loudest of all. "I was hoping we could see Mom before we left."

"Me too, son, me too," Dwayne somberly added, patting his son on the back.

"Great," Noah groaned, "finding an affordable hotel in the middle of Toronto. This'll be more of a challenge than the challenge itself."

As the teams all started to discuss what they were going to do, Devin walked over to the host. "Hey Don, I think I have a plan that may be a bit of a stretch to the rules, but could work!"

"What's that?" Don asked, intrigued.

"My apartment is attached to this playhouse rather close to here. One of my close friends lets me drop in, and right now, they're having this play called "The Emptiness of a Hundred Beds"."

"Say what now?" Don raised an eyebrow, frowning in concern.

"It's… some artsy thing that I don't get either, something to do with how people think when they're lying down, or how we're all one when asleep, it's super confusing and weird, but that's not the point.

"The playhouse's stage is loaded with beds as part of the play, and they're not performing tonight. If everyone here agrees to simply sleep in the beds, there's more than enough for everyone. After all, like the play's title says, a hundred beds."

Don rubbed his chin, then smiled at him. "If that's so, for the sake of well-rested competitors, and possible hilarious shenanigans I can share for years to come, I think I'll allow this. I may even check out this play one of these days."

"Oh, I've seen it," Devin said with a shake of his head. "You really don't want to."

Most of the contestants were rather grateful to Devin for helping them find a free place to stay for the night. Only a few of them refused, Taylor being the first to do so; the spoiled brat declared she wouldn't sleep in a crappy playhouse with a bunch of possible perverts and snoring losers, and thus demanded her mother find the most expensive hotel nearby.

Josee and Jacques, mostly on her side, refused as well. Tom and Jen also declined, but far more politely, especially since Carrie had been so kind to them earlier and it was her best friend making the offer; the two just needed a far more suitable location to sleep.

Emma also refused at first, but Kitty adamantly put her foot down. Pulling off the stubborn, little sister routine, Kitty wouldn't listen to any of Emma's threats, reason, or arguments. Noah, just to make the fight stop, walked over and said to Emma, "Take it from me, you're not going to change a little sibling when their mind is set up."

"Ugh, fine," Emma groaned. "Let's go sleep in a playhouse instead of a hotel, with all the enemy teams around us. There's no possible way for that to go wrong, now is there?"

"It's like a gigantic sleepover," Kitty said with a cheer.

Devin and Carrie led the way to the playhouse, and led all of the teams in. The sight of the stage full of beds was quite the bizarre one to see, and Don once again said, "I _really_ gotta see this play now. I just got to know what the heck goes on in it!"

After showing everyone where the bathrooms were, Devin went to say good-bye to Shelly, who had to leave after they all had arrived. Don texted the address to the rescue teams, and instructed them to bring them here.

The Stepbrothers came in shoving and punching each other, blaming the other for getting them lost; the two had somehow wound up on the opposite side of Toronto from the Chill Zone. The Daters were almost as hostile, Stephanie being on full-tilt and glaring daggers at Ryan.

The Adversity Twins were just glad to be alive and well, away from the bustling streets of Toronto, where they were sure they were going to die. The Surfer Dudes had almost been robbed by very friendly muggers, and had spent most of the challenge running from the polite requests to hand over all their money.

The Rockers were the last ones to arrive, having been the most helplessly lost of them all. Though they were exhausted, Rock still took a moment to do an air guitar rift at the very front of the stage. That had made the whole day worth it for him.

As most of the contestants started to get ready to sleep, Kitty was having the time of her life. "Do you how much I love sleep-overs~?" she gushed, pulling Mickey in so she could take a picture of them together. "Eeee~! Let me know your number so I can send this one to you!"

"Haaaaa whaaaa?" Mickey stammered, his mind not functioning perfectly well with Kitty pulling him so close to her. The sappy smile on his face made the perfect picture, while Jay watched in approval.

"Pillow fight," Owen declared, lifting his weapon. MacArthur, never one to back down from a challenge, dive-bombed him with her pillow in hands. The two started hitting each other like gladiators, roaring enough to scare most everyone else.

At first, Stephanie was saying how immature a pillow fight was, then a stray pillow smacked her in the face. Roaring her desire for revenge, she dove in, as did the Rockers, Surfer Dudes, the Stepbrothers (but mostly just to wallop each other), Kitty, and Carrie.

Noah made sure to pick a bed far away from this rather intense fight. Kicking off his shoes, he was more than ready to go back to sleep; the quick nap hadn't been enough for him, and he felt like he was running entirely on fumes. Luckily, his rib wasn't hurting so much anymore, the herbs had done their work.

As the know-it-all stretched, ready to finally get some proper shut-eye, someone sat down on the bed next to him. He turned to see Crimson face-to-face with him.

"Hey," she said, her eyes and voice rather calm.

"Hello to you too," Noah replied, his mind immediately wandering to what she could possibly want. He forcibly set it back on track, but not before asking, "I hope you didn't want to share, this is my bed."

"No," Crimson said, glancing to the side very briefly. She then stared back at Noah. "I have something I want to ask you… before you go to sleep."

"Okay," he started to say, pausing to duck as a pillow flew over his head, flung by who knows. "What is it?"

"We'll obviously be flying out tomorrow, the challenges predictably go to another country each time," she reasoned. She glanced around a bit, and Noah realized this was her being nervous. "Can… we sit next to each other on the plane ride?"

"I don't see any harm in that. But will Ennui?"

"He's my soulless mate, and my friend, but he doesn't tell me what I can and cannot do."

Noah glanced over at Ennui, who was watching the rambunctious pillow fight going on. As if on cue, he looked around for Crimson, saw her sitting with Noah, and narrowed his eyes. She stared right back at him, and he turned away.

"I don't know what he said to you," she continued to say to Noah, "but he's not going to do anything aggressive. Ennui is not violent."

"Good, because death by angry goth was not the way I want to go. Then again, with the amount of ways I've nearly died these past couple years, I'm sure my death is going to be something that'll win me a Darwin Award."

Crimson stared at him for a few more seconds, then pointed across him, towards his other side. When he glanced over to see what it was, she cupped his chin in her gloved hand, leaned in, and kissed his cheek. "Lucid dreams to you, Noah," she whispered, before heading over to a bed of her own.

He rubbed his cheek where she had kissed him, and couldn't help but smile. That was a lot more sweet than he thought it would be.

* * *

 **(Ridonculous Confessional - Got a pillow with your name on it!)**

( _Reality TV Pros_ )

 **Owen** \- * _rather battered but grinning_ * "She gave you another kiss too? Aww, I missed it because of the pillow fight!"

 **Noah** \- "You look like you got attacked by a claw-less tiger. And no, she didn't kiss me, it was a peck on the cheek."

 **Owen** \- "Oh, well, then why are you smiling over it?"

 **Noah** \- * _He frowns and turns to his side._ * "I'm not smiling, dopes smile over stupid things like that."

 **Owen** \- "Little buddy, there is nothing stupid about a girl kissing you."

 **Noah** \- * _He sighs hard, then turns back to Owen._ * "Okay, you may be right about that. But don't go acting like I'm a love-struck fool, or I'm going to smack you so hard with a pillow, you'll be spitting feathers for a week."

 **Owen** \- * _grins so impishly, you'd swear he was still dating Izzy_ * "I just wonder skin tone your children will have!"

 **Noah** \- "… You are lucky that was relatively witty enough to avoid a pillow walloping, my good sir."

* * *

The giant pillow fight was continuing on, with more of the contestants joining in. Even Don was, jousting with Dwayne Sr. like royal gentlemen.

Emma stared in disgust, especially at the sight of Kitty on top of Spud's shoulders, slamming him on the head with her pillow over and over. "WAAAAH-HA-HA-HA-HA," her sister cackled as she continued her fluffy assault.

"Kitty, I'm going out to get a drink," Emma shouted above the noise. "And when I get back, you'd better no longer be acting like a five year old on a sugar rush!"

"Whacka-whacka-whacka-whacka," was Kitty's response as she continued pounding the pillow on Spud's head.

"Ugh! I wish more than ever Mom could have joined me instead!"

Emma stormed out of the playhouse, infuriated as the pillow fight continued. Right as she left, Spud slowly widened his eyes. "Is there someone on my shoulders?" he asked aloud, as Kitty relentlessly hammered him with her pillow.

* * *

 **(At a nearby café close to the playhouse…)**

Emma had always been serious about studying, and that had led to some late-night cram sessions. That led to hitting up a café, which led to experimenting with different flavors, which led to quite the love for cinnamon.

This had made orange one of her favorite colors, hence her lucky shirt she wore for this contest. It also led to Kitty being able to get her relatively easy choices for gifts on Christmas, birthdays, and bribes.

She couldn't help but think back to all this as she was in line at a café, salivating at the chance of getting a venti of her absolute favorite drink. " _They'd better make it right,_ " she thought to herself. " _Hopefully, Toronto's store workers don't just rush it and make it half-hearted due to long lines._ "

When she gave her order, getting a little food to spoil herself, to the assuringly friendly cashier, she scanned the café for a free spot. When she saw one, she was surprised to see that Devin's girlfriend was seated at the table next to it, talking to two of her friends.

Emma was more glad than ever that Kitty hadn't joined her, as she knew her sister would go right over to Shelly and bother her with a hundred questions. As the responsible sister, she decided to just seat herself and wait for her order to brought out to her.

"So who do you think is going to win The Ridonculous Race?" one of Shelly's friends asked. "I mean, now we have insider information on who is still in the game, thanks to Shelly."

"I mean, I think Devin and Carrie can do it," the other friend said cheerfully. "They did place first in the first challenge, after all! Them, or maybe the Police Cadets, the Pros, or… oh! The Sisters, they seem like they have something going for them!"

" _Well, thank you,_ " Emma thought, smiling to herself.

"Yeah right," the first friend scoffed. "It's definitely going to be the Ice Dancers, the Fashion Bloggers, or the Daters. Every other team has a teammate who is a total dumbass or weirdo, or both of them are."

"That's kind of harsh," the other friend said. "Wait, you don't think Carrie is a dumbass or a weirdo, do you?"

"Meh, I never understood her. Devin has to carry her, literally."

Emma rolled her eyes, annoyed at this girl. She may have thought Kitty was flaky at times, but "total dumbass"? That was uncalled for.

"What about you, Shelly?" the second friend asked. "I mean, don't worry, I'm sure Marina thinks your boyfriend can win it."

Shelly was quiet for a moment, then said, "Probably the Cadets or the Ice Dancers. I don't think any of the others could do it."

"Besides Devin and Carrie, as well?" the friend whose Emma didn't know yet asked.

"She didn't say them," Marina said, "therefore, she doesn't think they'll win."

"Hey, come on, stop being so rude!"

"It's fine, Irene," Shelly said. "I don't much confidence in them either. That's why I met Devin, give him some motivation. Sadly not enough time or ability to give him the full kind of motivation for a guy, but hey, enough."

"Seriously, Shelly?" Marina asked incredulously. As Emma continued to eavesdrop, her drink and food arrived. She silently thanked the employee, so not to alert the girls on the other side of the partition.

"Hey, if wins the million, that'd be amazing," Shelly said. "But hey, if not, I have Ashton."

"Wait, what?" Irene sputtered. "You'll start going out with your tennis instructor if Devin doesn't win the million dollars?"

"Go out with him? I already am, we've been having sex since Devin left for the contest."

Emma was very glad her drink was still too hot to swallow, or she would have spat it out overhearing that.

"It was too risky when he was here, as Ashton can be very strong, and that'd make it obvious," Shelly continued, while sipping her drink at the same time. "But now, now I can fully enjoy it."

"I… what?" Irene stammered.

"Oh, I knew it," Marina said with a chuckle. "I knew you had a thing for him. He's so damn handsome, and I'll bet he's really good at it, eh?"

"Yep," Shelly said. Emma could practically hear the smile on her smug face as she bragged; it made the older sister's fists clench hard. "It's amazing. I feel incredible now."

"So, wait a minute," Irene spoke up again, "if you're seeing Ashton, why did you encourage Devin? Wait… oh!" She snapped her fingers as something clicked in her mind. "If you broke the news that you wanted to break up with him, that'd probably devastate him and he'd lose. So you don't want to tell him until he comes back?"

"I didn't really care if he lost or not," Shelly replied, "but when I saw him and Carrie get first place in the first challenge, it made me realize there is a small chance he could win. And if he does, he's coming back with half a million dollars.

"And who do you think he'll spend that on?"

Emma heard her sip more of her drink. The older sister wanted to go over there and throw that coffee into her face. It took all of her effort not to do that, to stay where she was.

"That's perfect," Marina gushed in admiration. "If he somehow wins, he'll get you a whole bunch of stuff, _then_ you can dump him for Ashton!"

"Exactly," Shelly said. "And I mean, if he doesn't, Ashton is easily so much more of a catch. He's more handsome, richer, strong, better at sex…"

The cheating girlfriend paused, then sighed a little. "Okay, maybe not better. I gotta admit, Devin was pretty good in his own way. Guess if he does win, it won't be so bad until he runs out of his prize money."

"I don't," Irene mumbled, sounding very off-put during this confession, "I don't know if this is right, Shelly. I mean, you could really hurt him, and he's been nothing but sweet to you."

"Yeah right," Marina remarked. "I heard them arguing a lot before he left for the contest."

"I wanted him to stop seeing Carrie," Shelly said. "I really don't care if they've been friends all their life, what does it say about me if he's hanging around another girl?"

"Didn't she, like, confess to being in love with him on the show?"

"He doesn't know it, and hopefully, she will just continue assisting him like the stupid lovesick puppy she is, especially after what I said to her. But hey, if they lose, or after I'm done with him, she can have him.

"Though I daresay," Shelly let out a particularly mean laugh, "if he hooks up with her after I let him go, that's just sad. I mean, look at her compared to me. It's like going from a mansion to a shack."

"A beach shack," Marina suggested. "Or maybe! That outhouse from Total Drama?"

"Yeah, exactly. So don't worry, you two, I have all my bases covered. I just wish I could have properly motivated Devin to win this thing, he can be quite driven. And I mean, to do it for me? He might knock over that fat friend of his just to make it to the next Chill Zone!"

Marine laughed out loud, but Irene was silent. It must have dawned on Shelly that her other friend wasn't so supportive, and she asked, "Irene, you're not going to get all moral on me, are you?"

"No! I just… I don't understand why you have to sound so awful about it. Devin hasn't been bad to you."

Shelly sighed. "Look, when he gets back here, win or loss, I'm not going to dump him right away. We'll probably stick together for a week, have sex a couple times, hang out, then I'll let him go. He doesn't have to know I am already with Ashton, or was with him before the race. I'll just say it doesn't feel good anymore, and I have to move on.

"And he can go right to Carrie, or some other girl, and do whatever he wants. Hell, if they do win, Devin will have someone to go to who still has half a million dollars! That is, if she doesn't spend it bribing guys to go out with her ugly self." Shelly and Marina laughed, while Irene let out a nervous chuckle.

The cheating girlfriend switched the subject then, electing to talk about things she planned to buy for herself. Emma felt a little numb, unsure exactly what to do. Part of her wanted to go right up to that awful bitch, and tell her exactly what she thought of her. The other part just wondered what she _could_ do. She had no idea what there was to be done…

But maybe there was someone who did know what she could do.

Realizing she would have to leave now, she slipped off her jacket and tied her hair into a ponytail. Scarfing down her food, she grabbed her drink and made her way to the door. Silently praying Shelly or her friends didn't recognize her, she stepped out and hurried back to the playhouse. She managed to finish her drink along the way, but not even her favorite cinnamon beverage was making her feel comfortable.

When she made it to the stage, she was surprised to see the pillow fight had ended and what looked like everyone was asleep. Some of the contestants were snoring loudly, some quietly, but everyone seemed quite content in dreamland; the replacement for a hotel had worked relatively well.

As Emma walked around, trying to find her sister, she caught Lorenzo trying to put his sleeping stepbrother's hand in warm water. He stared up at her like a deer caught in the headlights, and she grimaced.

"You really want him on your case about that all of tomorrow?" she whispered.

"Eh, good point," Lorenzo muttered, and slogged down the water.

"Have you seen my sister?"

The thinner stepbrother grinned slyly, and pointed behind Emma. She turned around to see two beds had been shoved together, and Kitty was snoozing right in-between Jay and Mickey. Her sister even had her arm wrapped around Mickey, and was snuggled into him quite a bit.

It might have been cute, if Emma was frantic to talk to her sister, and the fact that an older sibling does tend to not react well to seeing their younger sister in bed with two boys. Even if they were fully clothed, innocently snoozing, and there was absolutely not threatening about the twins.

"Kitty," Emma whisper-hissed, shaking her sister. "Kitty, wake up!"

Her sister's eyes fluttered open, and she glanced up at Emma. Before she could say anything, she quickly remembered who she was sleeping with, literally. "Oh, um, we all got so exhausted after the pillow fight," she whispered, grinning as she tried to convey her innocence amid her fervent blush, "that I just crashed on this bed with them. We didn't do anything, I swear!"

"Yeah, I believe that, just come on. I need to talk to you, in private!"

Kitty nodded, but paused. She took out her phone and lifted it up above her.

"What are you doing?!" Emma hissed.

"I wanna take a photo of this, and send it to Mom saying, 'lol just had a threesome, don't tell my mother!' and then send another text telling her not to read the first one."

" _Kitty_ ," her sister whispered as loud as she dared, clenching her hands in frustration.

"Oh come on, she'll get the joke, we're all wearing clothes!"

Emma tugged her sister out of the bed before she could take a picture, though she was careful not to wake the twins. She dragged Kitty off of the stage and into one of the hallways, far enough from the impromptu bedroom so that no one could hear.

"What is going on?" Kitty muttered. "Because really, are you that upset over what you saw? You just said you believe nothing happened, and-"

"Kitty, for once, please be quiet," Emma requested, "and listen to me! I… I need your advice on something."

Kitty blinked, then grinned most slyly. "You want _my_ advice? Oh, this is gonna be good."

Emma told her everything she had overheard at the café, telling her every last bit of Shelly's infidelity and manipulation. When she was done, it was most certainly not good to Kitty; in fact, it was the complete opposite for her.

"That horrible, evil, wicked, _bitch_ ," Kitty declared. Emma shushed her, fearing someone might be awakened by the raised voice. "Oh sorry, but wow, I mean, you know I don't swear much, at least when I'm not playing video games, but for that… oh my God! How horrible! Poor Devin!"

"I know, I just," Emma shook her head, heaving in frustration, "I don't know how someone could be that wretched."

"I'll say!" Kitty crossed her arms and huffed. Then something crossed her mind, and stared at her sister in confusion. "Wait a minute, why are you telling me all this? I mean, shouldn't you be telling Devin this?"

"No, I came to you because I need to ask you what I should do about it! I don't know what to do in a situation like this."

"Your first thought wasn't to tell him that his girlfriend is cheating on him, and is planning to use him?" the younger sister asked incredulously.

Emma scoffed, rolling her eyes as she muttered, "Yeah, because he's really going to believe me."

"What? Why not? At the least, you can tell him so he can go confront Shelly over this!"

"Kitty, what's the one thing I was saying in front of everyone today? That it isn't a game, and we should take everything seriously now. All of the other contestants know me now as someone competitive and driven to win this race.

"Do you really think Devin is going to believe me if I tell him that I overheard his girlfriend saying she is cheating on him, and plans to use him if he wins?"

Someone else asked, "She said all that?"

Both sisters froze. There was no mistaking that low voice. They turned to see Crimson standing there, holding a glass of water in her hand. Kitty noticed in particular that the goth gal's eyes were slightly wider than normal, as she looked at the sisters.

"You," Emma snarled, turning towards Crimson. "How much did you just hear? And what are you doing here?"

The goth gal pointed at her glass of water with her free hand, then pointed back at the kitchen down the hall. "Devin's girlfriend is cheating on him, and plans to use him," she repeated. "You heard her saying that?"

Emma frowned, turning away from Crimson. Kitty glanced between the two, until she spoke. "She knows now, might as well be honest. Yes, Crimson, Emma overheard Shelly at a café when she went out to get a drink."

Crimson glanced at Emma, who frowned at her. The goth gal blinked slowly, processing this. "I didn't think she was genuine," she said.

"Oh sure, like you really thought that," Emma replied. "What's an emotionless Cthulhuist like you know about these things?"

"I am not a Cthulhuist," the goth gal stated. "But I know when someone smiles and doesn't mean it. When she smiles," she pointed at Kitty, "it is genuine and sincere. Almost sickeningly so, with how cheerful she gets, but very real. When I saw Shelly, I could tell her smile wasn't genuine. It appeared fake to someone not misguided by emotions, as Devin was."

"You know," Kitty spoke up, "I think you're right. When I saw her too, there was this tiny voice in my head saying that Shelly seemed a little too forward and sappy, like she was overdoing it. I kind of dismissed it then, but now, it makes total sense!"

"Yeah, yeah, you two both noticed, whatever," Emma snapped, turning back to them. "But that doesn't change anything! Devin isn't going to believe me if I tell him, because he and everyone else know I am in this contest to win it above all! So if I try, everyone will just think I am being a manipulative jerk, and aim to get my sister and I booted!"

Kitty winced, as she stared at her sister. She wanted to say that there was more to Emma than the competitive side, she _knew_ that. It hurt her, a little, to see Emma talk in such a defeated manner.

"Why doesn't she tell him?" Crimson asked, glancing at Kitty. When Emma stared at the goth gal in confusion, she explained, "Tell her everything you heard, and Kitty will say she overheard Shelly with her friends. They are more likely to believe her, she is genuine."

"That's," Emma started to say, upset until the logic entered into her mind, "that's… actually not a bad idea. Kitty, do you think you can do that?"

The younger sister nervously winced. "But… everyone here saw me pass out with Mickey and Jay after the pillow fight. They'll know I didn't head out for coffee or anything."

"Then we'll say you woke up and went out just now!"

"That's even more ridiculous, that I went out to get a drink at this point of the night, after waking up from an exhausting day."

"Kitty, it's not a perfect story, but-"

"No, she's right," Crimson spoke up. "The more far-fetched it is, the less likely they will believe her."

"Then what about you?" Emma snapped, staring down the goth gal. "Why don't you tell Devin you overheard Shelly?"

Crimson stared at Emma, her expression not changing and her tone still as neutral. "You really think he'll believe me any more than you? I know what you all think about me."

"Actually, you're still kind of a mystery to me," Kitty admitted. "I mean, especially after that time you burst out laughing and kissed Noah good, I'm not really sure what's going on with you! Which reminds me…"

"No digressing," Emma hissed at her sister. "Fine then, Crimson! If Devin won't believe you, or me, and Kitty cannot say she can do it, then what do we do?"

The goth gal stared at them silently for a few moments, then shrugged. "I don't know."

"We have to do something! I'm not going to let that awful harlot get away with this."

"Why is this so important to you?" Crimson asked.

"What? What kind of question is that? What, are you okay with someone cheating and using someone who loves them? Do you _like_ that, you… you pale freak?!"

"Emma," Kitty spoke in a scolding tone, glancing at Crimson apologetically.

The goth gal only blinked at the insult. "I never said I was okay with it," she replied to Emma. "You just seem unusually invested."

"Well, maybe you just don't know me," Emma said with a scoff. "This may be a competition, and I want that million dollars, but I'm not okay with someone cheating on someone who loves them, especially not with such selfish intentions behind it."

"But what _can_ we do?" Kitty repeated her sister's words from earlier. "If either of you try to tell him, he won't believe you and they'll retaliate against us, or the Goths! I mean, I don't think all of them will, but enough people will be more than glad to give a hard time to a team they think is trying to hit below the belt."

Emma shook her head, rubbing her forehead. As she did this, she realized her hair was still tied in a ponytail. Undoing it, she stared at Crimson. "You really don't have any idea?"

"No."

"I don't either," Kitty said. "I'm sorry, Emma, I just don't know what we can do. Maybe I should tell him, and we hope for the best."

"No, if it goes south, they might label you as a horrible person on international TV who would say anything to win the game, and pretends to be a nice person. I'm not letting that happen to my sister."

"Well, I'm not letting it happen to mine," she replied stubbornly. "Or to Crimson!"

This actually provoked a reaction from the goth gal, who glanced at Kitty with wide eyes for a brief second. While it was gone incredibly quickly, there was a tiny bit of emotion in Crimson's next words. "Why for me?"

"Because you're trying to help us, it shows you're a good person."

"I'm not a 'good' person."

"Oh, pshaw, you are too!" Kitty said with a wave of her hand and a grin. Though this positive attitude kept her going for only a few more seconds, as she went back to a concerned frown. "Seriously, is that it, though? Can we not do anything?"

Emma groaned, shaking her head. "At this point, no. Devin won't believe any of us, and there's no point trying to tell Carrie. Even if she did believe us, it's just her repeating what we say to her.

"At this point, we just keep this to ourselves, and we try to see if there's a time where we can tell Devin or Carrie; maybe one of them suspects something, but as far as we know, they're both entirely ignorant of this."

"Actually," Kitty said, "Carrie seemed a little suspicious of Shelly when she saw her today."

"Kitty, just stay close to Carrie and see if you can find out what she knows or thinks about Shelly. We'll be on the same plane, should be okay."

"Okay. Do we tell anyone else about this?"

"What? No, we're still in a competition, this isn't high school or a country club. You don't gossip these kinds of things, you don't spread them around."

Emma turned to Crimson, eyeing her in particular. The goth gal stared back, and said, "Ennui will know if I am hiding something from him."

"Oh please, how could he? Just because you're soulless mates?"

"Huh?" Kitty honked, staring in confusion at both of them.

"It's her weird thing that she calls her friendship with Ennui. Anyway, he cannot possibly read you that well, you don't show emotion! Until you're kissing Noah or laughing at his jokes…"

"Hey, Emma, I know you're stressed about all this, but," Kitty frowned at her sister, "there's really no reason to be rude."

"You're taking her side?" Emma asked, pointing at Crimson.

"You're upset over this whole deal, but you're kind of unfairly attacking her, yeah. Crimson is trying to help!" Kitty turned towards the goth gal, and asked, "If Ennui knows, can he keep a secret?"

"Until he dies," Crimson replied.

Kitty smiled at her sister. "See? They obviously will take this seriously. Oh, and neither of you two should tell Noah."

Both Emma and Crimson stared at Kitty, as the younger sister rolled her eyes and said, "Oh come on, I know you both like him, and he is very intelligent, so you'd think to ask him for help. But there's no need to drag him into this drama, because you're just putting him, and Owen, in as much risk as we are."

Emma crossed her arms and glanced away from them. "I wasn't thinking of asking Noah…"

"I maybe was," Crimson admitted, "but you make a good point, Kitty."

The younger sister nodded, smiling at them. "Now, we need to get some sleep, the contest starts again in less than ten hours. Maybe tomorrow, we'll get our answer, maybe on the plane ride to wherever we are going next."

Without much else to say, the three went back to the stage. Kitty went back to the twin beds, wedging herself in-between the twins. Emma wanted to protest this, but had no more energy in her. Crimson finished her drink and sat down on her bed, next to Ennui's, who was silently slumbering.

The goth gal stared at him for a minute, wondering how he would react to this news; he could tend to be emotional about such things. She then glanced at Emma, who was looking sympathetically at a fast-asleep Devin.

When the older sister sat down on an available bed, she heaved out a large sigh. Part of her was infuriated she had to cope with this as well as the anxiety of the race, the other part of her almost… glad? No, it wasn't that, maybe self-assured that she had this task, because she would see it through.

Her eyes drifted around, glancing at everyone involved, whether they knew it or not, with this mess: Devin, Carrie, Kitty, and Crimson. She noticed the goth gal was staring off to the side, and when Emma glanced in the direction Crimson was, she realized she was looking at Noah.

The know-it-all was sleeping, appearing rested for once. He almost looked like a different person, as relaxed wasn't something had had been much.

" _What_ would _you do?_ " Both Crimson and Emma thought at the same time.

* * *

 **(Individual Confessions - To vent oneself verily.)**

 **Emma** \- "I swear, someone really wanted to make me look like a hypocrite. One minute I'm saying how my sister needs to seriously focus on the race, the next I am involved in a convoluted relationship drama that I cannot say no to!"

* _She sighs and shakes her head._ * "I know it doesn't make sense, but I have my reasons. I doubt this will distract me from the race, I just need to recognize the right opening, with the help of Kitty, Crimson, and Noah.

"I mean! Not Noah, he's not involved! I don't know why I said his name, I don't even need his head. I mean, not that he couldn't be helpful… but things are already complicated enough."

* * *

 **Crimson** \- "One of the reasons I am who I am is because this world is so unnecessarily cruel. For someone like Shelly to use someone who loves her, for someone kind like Devin to be ignorant, as kindness is often manipulated…"

* _She blinks, glances to the side, then back to the camera._ * "These dark emotions would normally be inspiring, a rush to remind us how alive we still are. But for some reason, I'm just… upset. I need to talk to Ennui tomorrow, and Noah when I can."

"…" * _She appears lost in thought, and walks off as she ponders everything that's been going on._ *

* * *

…

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 **Owen** \- "Noah said I should take one of the beds, and sleep somewhere else. If I have gas in my sleep, he said the resulting revulsion of the other teams towards him and me would be equivalent to the Salem Witch Trials. I'm not sure what that means, but it kind of sounds bad.

"So I set up my bed in the dressing room! It's nice here, and I feel like an actor before a big performance. I know I kind of have a performance, with the race, but this feels very exciting in another way! I wonder why the actors don't sleep here before performing, soak up all of that exhilaration!"

* _As he finishes saying this, he hears something that sounds like a mixture of very faint snoring and humming. Confused, he glances all around the room, until he spots a collapsable wall for changing privacy. Pushing it back, there is a young lady sleeping on a cot._ *

 **Ella** \- "Zzzzz… mmmm~… The Emptiness… of a… Hundred Beds~ / we ponder our lives… as we… rest our heads~! Zzzzz…"

 **Owen** \- * _pulls the collapsable wall back, a panicked look in his eyes_ * "Did I just set up my bedroom in the _women's_ changing room?"

 **Ella** \- "We daydream our lives… during the day~ / then when we sleep… we dream… our lives away…"

 **Owen** \- "Wow. She's actually very good at singing… like a soothing lullaby… hehehe…" * _He falls back on his bed, snoring the moment his head hits the pillow. In his unconscious state, he pulls out his stuffed animals and snuggles them in sleep._

 **Ella** \- "Thank you~… you've… zzzzzzz… been a lovely crowd… mmmmm~!"


End file.
